Corrupted by Light
by Avalon Kore
Summary: After Harry was hit by the Killing Curse, Hermione vowed to take revenge on Lord Voldemort. She travelled back in time and met the seventh year Head Boy who would not hesitate to take lives to save his own, but Tom Riddle wasn't Voldemort, he did not desire to take over the world. Inspired by Monica Citrina's video - (Tom Riddle) Voldemort/Hermione: Last To Know
1. Death: A Beginning

Hi guys, happy New Year. It's my first time writing fanfiction, I would really appreciate suggestions and welcome reviews, but please don't flame if this story is not for you. Thank you. :)

This fanfiction is inspired by Monica Citrina's video - (Tom Riddle) Voldemort/Hermione: Last to Know. Thank you, Monica, for your constant help and support, you are the best editor I have the pleasure of befriending. ^_^

Here's the link to Monica's video:

watch?v=xK9oWHjyrMM

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, all characters belong to J.K. Rowling, author of Harry Potter.**

Warning: Tom is going to be a bit more Dark Lord-ish in this story than in canon. He will not try to suck up to everyone, instead, he will secretly terrorize the Slytherins into following him. I'm thinking of keeping Tom as a figure who's charismatic on the outside, but extremely cruel once provoked. The Slytherins acted along when he's charming them because they didn't want to face his cruel side.

* * *

**Death: A Beginning**

Under a sullen sky heavy with dark clouds, several cloaked figures waited in an ominous looking forest. Though they all had deathly pale faces, one stood out from the rest.

The man was a rather inhuman looking creature, his nostrils were in the shape of slits and his lips were barely visible.

The group stood motionlessly, wind howled around them like dying screams, the expression of the monstrous man grew more disappointed by every second that had passed.

Suddenly, a branch twitched on the other side, then it was shoved aside roughly, revealing a cut-up and bruised teen. The teen made his way toward the monstrous man slowly and warily, his breath was ragged and a slight tremble ran across his chest, but his eyes remained determined.

The tension in the air was so thick that it seemed as if every being in the forest was made still. For a second, there was no sound, absolute silence.

"Harry Potter," the snaked faced man was the first to break the choking silence, "the boy who lived, come to die."

The boy closed his eyes.

A loud enunciation, a sickly flash of green light, and the Boy-Who-Lived no longer continued his legend. Behind a tree, a small gasp escaped Hermione. She froze as the snake faced man turned to face her, his eyes unreadable.

Slowly, Hermione backed away, before she realized it, she had broke into a run in the opposite direction. Twigs scraped at her tear-stained face, Hermione was surprised to find no Death Eater on her trail. Then she realized that Voldemort must had kept his promise from the one hour armistice, but nonetheless, she vowed revenge for Harry.

With tears in her eyes, Hogwarts castle seemed to twist and form into some kind of snake shaped monster. Hermione busted through the door, she felt shocked eyes on her back as she sprinted across the halls, but she didn't care.

Hermione stumbled into the Hospital Wing, she fumbled for her time turner and began spinning it frantically. As she completed the last spin, she closed her eyes and a golden light encased her. Hermione prayed for her plan to work and let herself be lost in time, her last memory of Harry Potter seem to appear on the inside of her eyelid.

-*flashback*-

_Hermione Granger scrambled from the Order of Phoenix, the Headmaster's words echoed again and again in her mind. _

_"For the greater good, one must sacrifice. It's regrettable, but Harry must die. When Voldemort murdered the Potters that night, a piece of his soul clung on to the only living thing in the room. In other words, Voldemort had made Harry into a horcrux." _

_Must die...horcrux...Hermione felt like she's in a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from. _

_There had to be a way that wouldn't involve sacrificing Harry, her lips trembled and her vision blurred. Hermione knew she could not let others continue to sacrifice themselves. After Ron's death, Harry was all she had, and she wasn't going to witness the impending death of her best friend without doing anything._

_Hermione wanted to tell Harry to get away from Voldemort, flee the country even, but she couldn't, Dumbledore had made her swear an oath to not tell Harry, and refrain from any action that may impede Voldemort's destruction._

_Hermione found it cruel that Dumbledore told her about Harry's death before it would happen, it meant she would have to watch everything unfold in front of her helplessly. The Headmaster had said that Hermione had a right to know about the fate of her friend. Hermione speculated that Dumbledore had told her out of sympathy, because Dumbledore had seen Hermione's devastation after Ron's death, he had wanted to prepare her for Harry's death. It was meant to be a warning for her to treasure the time she got to spend with Harry from now on._

_An image of Harry popped into her mind. Even if the oath didn't exist, Hermione wondered if she would be able to notify Harry. She treasured the way Harry's eyes glinted with warmth every time when Dumbledore was mentioned. The Boy-Who-Lived loved his mentor like a family . Hermione didn't know if she could bear to break the truth to Harry even if it was to save his life. _

_Hermione's fingers clutched onto the time turner around her neck. She could go back, she could stop the Dark Lord. She'll... Hermione mentally scolded herself for the impulsive thought. No witch or wizard had meddled with time without great consequences, she could end up erasing everyone all together._

_There had to be some other way. There's still time, she would find a way to save the saviour even if it meant sacrificing her own life. With new found determination shining in her eyes, she ran toward the library._

-*end of flashback*-

**Author's Note:** I'm so sorry that I have to kill Ron, I understand that he could be your favourite character, but I had to do it...for the greater good. *tries to grab Dumbledore's beard and gets jinxed* Anyways, I promise the upcoming chapters will be much longer, this is just a set up. So next time~


	2. First Encounter: Hostility

Hello :) I'm excited to present to you the second chapter. A big thank you goes to Hermione Voldemort Riddle and laarissa for reviewing. Thank you all for your support. You guys really make writing fictions less dreadful. :)

Here are both of Monica's trailers for this fanfiction. It's also on my profile page, I would definitely recommend them out of their sheer epicness.

watch?v=jLVMdE0OwQ0

watch?v=DxNcSfA6e18

Thanks again, Monica, for your amazing work. :)

**First Encounter: Hostility**

Hermione opened her eyes and found herself in the hospital wing, she wobbled a bit due to disorientation from time traveling. Luckily, the beds around her were empty, its white sheet glowed dimly from the moonlight streaming through the windows. Deciding that no one noticed her, Hermione let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding.

The hallways of Hogwarts at night were eerie, the torch light flickered faintly, her heart thumped painfully every time she saw a twisted shadow dance across the wall, only to found that it belonged to herself. Hermione was glad that most of the paintings were asleep, and the few that remained awake gave her a brief glance but chose to not say anything. Just as she got to the staircase, she jumped when she heard a harsh voice behind her.

"It is pass curfew now, I'm afraid I'll have to take you to your head of the house." Tom Riddle said as he emerged out of darkness. Swiftly, he strode up to a frozen Hermione and lit his wand in her face.

Hermione shielded her eyes from the harsh light, her eyes squinted at the boy before her.

"50 points off Gryffindor for being outside of your common room at night. Come." He turned to walk up the stairs, confident she would follow. Hermione stared at the back of her arch nemesis, it was the perfect opportunity, she could kill him and nobody would have to find out. But instead, she called out.

"Wait..." He turned around on the staircase and looked at her expectantly.

Hermione mentally scolded herself for her Gryffindor impulse, she should have just fired a killing curse at his back to get it over with, her desire to have a fair fight could be such a nuisance at times. The Dark Lord was never fair, he tried to kill Harry as a baby. Her thought was broken by a drawl laced with impatience.

"Stalling for time will get you nowhere." Seeing no answer form the girl, Tom Riddle spoke coldly, he had never been too fond of the lions. Though he doubted that she had the spontaneity to escape, his kept wand trained her just in case.

"Actually... never mind." Upon the realization that she couldn't come up with anything clever, Hermione resigned herself and began to walk up the stairs after the future Dark Lord. However, instead of leading the way, the Head Boy did not move from his spot. Hermione looked at him quizzically, he simply motioned for her to go before him. He followed her after she walked up hesitantly. Hermione felt goose bumps rising on her back at the idea of having Voldemort behind her, but she reasoned that he wouldn't hex a fellow student...yet.

Hermione walked through the halls in a hurried pace, despite being Gryffindor, she was not reckless enough to curse the Dark Lord to his face, she hoped fervently to whatever deity out there to let her spend as little time as possible in the company of the evil man.

Having gone to Hogwarts for 7 years, it should have beeb no hard task for Hermione to find the office of Gryffindor's Head of the House; however, Hogwarts had undergone some drastic changes from the past and having the future Dark Lord close behind her certainly was not helping.

Soon enough, Hermione found herself facing a dead end, just as she turned around to try the opposite way, Tom Riddle came from behind her. His mouth was pressed into a tight line as he looked at her firmly, as if daring her to make up an excuse.

Hermione tried to smile apologetically at him but she must have appeared pretty pathetic then, because the future Dark Lord simply turned and headed in the other direction wordlessly. Again, Hermione had to suppress the urge to hex his diminishing back, frustrated, she cursed under her breath and jogged to follow him.

Tom Riddle stopped before a set of great doors, he waited until Hermione caught up with him and glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes disapprovingly. Before she could come up with an appropriate response, he straightened his back and knocked on the door a few times.

The doors swung inward on their own, to say Hermione was relieved to find Dumbledore occupying the office would be an understatement. Not that she would tell her old mentor everything, as much as she respected Dumbledore, she couldn't help but resent the man for letting Harry die without a fight. Still, finding a familiar face in an unfamiliar environment felt nice.

"Professor Dumbledore, I brought you a student that was found outside her common room past curfew. I hate to inform you that she's from Gryffindor." Tom Riddle reported dutifully, the feigned respectfulness on his voice and face made Hermione want to squirm in disgust.

Dumbledore came up to look at Hermione, surprise flickered in his eyes as he does not recognize the student before him as a member of his house.

"Thank you, Tom, you may go now." Tom Riddle nodded curtly and turned to exit the office, not before giving Hermione another suspicious glance.

Dumbledore waited until Tom's foot step faded down the hallway, then slowly, he turned around to look at Hermione, before he could ask, she began.

"Professor Dumbledore, I am a student in Hogwarts, but from another time when you are the Headmaster," there was a gleam in Dumbledore's eyes, she continued, "I was hit by a stray spell when walking in Hogwarts, and the next thing I know, it appears I've went back in time." Hermione finished with an exhale, as if reciting out of a book, she hoped that her little speech gave Dumbledore most of the answers he wanted.

Hermione purposely left out the part with Tom Riddle becoming the future Dark Lord and murdering millions, she wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of clueing the Light Lord in her murderous plan...even if it was for the greater good.

Dumbledore looked into her eyes for a moment, she could tell he was very suspicious as she waited with baited breath, but instead he relented, "Very well then, I see you are in the house of Gryffindor? We'll have a bed arranged for you in the dorm, Miss...?"

"Fossil." The name rolled off her tongue so naturally Hermione was shocked by her talent at lying. "Furthermore, I wish to request a resorting."

"And why is that?" Hermione could tell that Dumbledore was very proud of his house, hence the puzzlement in his eyes.

"I feel I have changed, professor, it is best for me to go into a house that suits me." She replied in a monotone.

Disappointment crossed Dumbledore's benign face for a brief second before he composed himself.

"Are you aware of what year this is...?"

"Yes, yes I know." Hermione must had interrupted him, Dumbledore seemed even more suspicious now. Hermione scolded herself. A student who was accidently sent back in time couldn't had possibly figured out everything so quickly. She squeezed her fingers into a fist and then released it again, her heart was pumping fast in her chest.

Cautiously, Dumbledore inquired while staring hard into her eyes as if trying to read her mind, "Is there something... you wish to tell me, Miss Fossil?"

Hermione swallowed, "No..." she quickly calmed herself, "no, professor, good night."

Dumbledore tiled his head, his eyes concentrated on her for a few more seconds, "Very well, we shall have a bed prepared in your new dorm by tomorrow night. Tonight, I'm afraid you'll have to sleep in the Hospital Wing," then he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, his looked worn out.

Hermione took it as a sign of dismissal and quietly retreated out of his office. Before she could close the door, she heard a sign from inside. There was a tinge of guilt in her for treating the mentor that she had came to trust deeply in such a cold manner, yet, it was strangely... exhilarating.

**Author's Note:** I hope you guys enjoyed it. Tom will start to play a bigger role once Hermione settles in. ;) Please review and tell me what you think. Thanks! :)

Oh dear...I accidently deleted this chapter once, for those of those who received spam mails, I'm sorry. .


	3. Arrangement

Hi, thanks for sticking with me up till now. So here's the third chapter, I'm trying to stick to one update per week, and it looks like I'll be posting every Wednesday now that I have things to do on Thursday.

**Arrangement**

Hermione woke up after what felt like eternity, her eyes felt raw and her long lashes were stuck together from dried tears. She rubbed at her eyes to realize that she had been crying in her dreams. There was a painful compression in hers chest, her bottom lip trembled, yet no tear came to her.

Hermione wanted to believe that the past few days had just been the same as always, but her delusion was dispelled as soon as she came to her senses. So it was all true, Harry, her Harry, the Boy-Who-Lived was no longer part of her life, in her desperate attempt to escape a world rule by Voldemort, she had activated her time turner.

Sitting up on her bed, Hermione realized that she had fallen asleep on the hospital bed in her Hogwarts uniform. She felt something hard pressed against her waist, and began to empty her robe pocket there. Hermione was surprised to find that she had brought a picture of Harry with her.

She had almost forgotten about how she got it, Harry has taken her to Hogsmead in an attempt to cheer her up after Ron's death. Though the other was grieving too, he had put up a cheerful attitude for Hermione's sake...

Hermione allowed herself a few moments to daze off, it was so tempting for her to simply sink back into the warm mattress and pretend that nothing happened. But deciding that moping isn't going to solve anything, Hermione kicked off the blanket and jumped off her bed.

She was shivering almost immediately when the morning air of the room began to attack her, she casted a quick warming charm on herself and dragged herself to the washroom. Turning the tap water to maximum, Hermione splashed her face with water, she looked at herself in the mirror, only to find a girl with swollen eyes and flushed cheeks, someone she could hardly recognize.

"Look at you," her voice was thick and hoarse as she talked to herself in the mirror, "How pathetic you must be."

Hermione does not know if the water on her face is tap water or new tears, she bent low to the sink and rubbed her face furiously with as much cold water as she could grasp. When she stood straight again, her cheek felt raw, she touched her cheeks tentatively, the skin beaneath her fingers felt like cold porcelain. Hermione took a deep breath before looking at herself again. Better, but not good enough.

"Hermione Jane Granger died with Harry Potter, from today on you are Pauline Fossil, a women who live for only one goal: make the Dark Lord pay." The last part came out a whisper, but Hermione immediately felt better, as if some parts of her really left.

On her way back to the Hospital Wing, Hermione could still feel pressure in her chest, but she felt calmer. Hermione was glad to find that no other occupied the Hospital Wing at the moment. Sitting on her bed, she began to plan for events of the day.

Dumbledore wanted to give her a formal introduction, her sorting was to be arranged during dinner today, so she would have a day with the professors to make up her new identity... Hermione's concentration dissipated as soon as she looked up at the sound of footsteps. She found Dumbledore and Dippet observing her from the door way, both men looked a bit hesitant.

"Miss Fossil, how are you faring today?" Hermione must give credit to the Headmaster for attempting to appear warm and welcoming; however, his eyes gave him away as the suspicion inside them was almost tangible.

"Fine, Headmaster." She replied simply, not inclined to initiate further conversation.

Hermione felt hollow, looking at Dumbledore standing in front of her somehow made she feel betrayed, betrayed that this man wasn't able to stop Tom Riddle from becoming Voldemort despite seeing through Tom Riddle's superficial charm; betrayed that he didn't put in more effort in protecting Harry's parents and allowed Harry to become an orphan by Voldemort's hand; betrayed that he didn't do anything when he found out that Harry had to sacrifice himself.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore averted his eyes from Hermione, he could sense the resentment churning in the girl despite her expressionless face; it wasn't the same unpleasant feeling he got from being around Tom's façade of charm. The emotion expressed by the girl was rather raw compared to the subtle manipulation of Tom, it wasn't dark, it felt misled. Albus wondered if he would do something horrible in the future that could cause the girl to begrudge him. Despite his curiosity, he held his tongue.

The professors had decided at the staff meeting that they would not hope to attain the knowledge of the future from the girl in order to preserve the time line. Though it was suggested that they erase her memories, Albus had fought against it, it just wasn't right. The others eventually gave in upon his insistence, as a result, he would have to watch over the girl, it was the price that had to be paid to allow the girl to keep her memory. Albus was well aware that it would be his duty to prevent the dark forces from taking advantage of the girl's knowledge. So instead, he would try to convert the girl to light side. Albus made a mental note to talk to the girl later.

* * *

"Professor Dumbledore reported to me that you traveled here from another time. We are very sorry to inform you that we have not found a way to send you back, I'm afraid you'll have to continue your education in this time." Hermione inclined her head at the Headmaster's words, she had no intention of going back anyways...at least not before killing Voldemort.

"Now, to assist you with fitting into the student body of this school, we should make up an alternate identity for you to reduce your impact on the timeline." The continued silence form the girl was making Dippet agitated, his voice began to lose its warmness as he continued.

"The school has found no record of your family name, hence you may keep your last name Fossil if you wish, as for your first name..."

"Pauline, Pauline Fossil, I'll go by Pauline Fossil." Neither of the professors objected, they left almost immediately after bidding her good days half-heartedly.

Hermione leaned back onto the bed. It seemed that so far her plan with getting a new identity at Hogwarts had partially succeeded. She took out her wand and erased every trace of her former House off her robe.

Tonight, she would just have to make sure that she get sorted into Slytherin.

**Author's note:** Review or Tom will disappear, just kidding. He will appear in the later chapters at such an alarming frequency that I worry you'll get sick of him, so no worries Tom fans, you'll definitely see him around. ;)

So to clarify and to summarize two reasons why Hermione might lose confidence in Dumbledore:  
1. He placed her in a difficult position by telling Hermione about the future. (Hermione didn't tell Dumbledore that Tom Riddle was going to turn into Dark Lord. She didn't understand her reluctance, but it was parallel to her situation with Dumbledore telling her the future.)  
2. Hermione felt betrayed by Dumbledore because he wasn't able to stop Harry's death. (which stems from the fact that she believed in Dumbledore too much. Hermione perceived Dumbledore as the most powerful wizard alive, which was why she was upset that there are things that Dumbledore couldn't do.)


	4. An Out of Character Request

Hi, how's everyone doing? Thank you for continuing to read this story. Also thank you for the reviews, I really love reading them! :)

Diane Potter: I'm glad you enjoy it, and I love your profile. :D

GardenOfSnow: Thank you so much for the long review. I cannot describe how happy I am to know that you enjoy this story. I wish I could've read JKR's books but unfortunately I don't have time, I'll likely read them in the summer to get a feel of her writing. :D Oh, and thank you for alerting me of my mistake. :)

**An Out of Character Request**

Between non-stop classes from morning till night every day, Hogwarts students had quickly lost their fascination in magic as bookish theories never quite appealed to them. In fact, the books and exams reminded some students of muggle schools and their stupid rules. Hence when the students found a three-legged stool with a Sorting Hat on top of it placed in the middle of Great Hall, excited chatter rose amongst the tables like a great tide.

Some hypothesized that the unusual arrangement was to give anyone unsatisfied with their house a second chance; though the decision was very much unwelcomed by most of the students, some were excited by the very idea of resorting.

A more popular rumor had it that a new student was coming to Hogwarts...during the middle of the school year. The student body was puzzled by the unusual decision, but some were very curious in regard to which house was the new student going to be placed in, and whether it was going to tip the current house points balance.

Another rumor said that the student was not new and they had already been sorted, but due to their horrendous behaviour since the beginning of the year, they were kicked out of their House waiting to be resorted. Excitement and speculations were heavy in the air; bets were placed on the result of the sorting.

Hermione smoothed her expression and forced on a fa_ç_ade of indifference before she opened the door to the noisy Great Hall, which suddenly became a lot quieter as many students stopped in the middle their activities to appraise her. Every pair of eyes were trained on her face, nobody seemed to notice that the girl clenched and unclenched her fists before walking toward the sorting hat gracefully. A hushed silence fell over the room as students anticipated the result of sorting/resorting, some sitting at the far ends even cranked their neck just so they could get a peek at the girl.

Dippet was pleased, calming a hall of excited students had always been a daunting task. He stood up and cleared his throat.

"Miss Pauline Fossil here is a transfer student, she has been homeschooled previously...SILENCE," Dippet's voice picked up in volume as murmurs began, Hermione's eyes were drawn to Tom Riddle, who sat at the Slytherin table frowning into his food. It seemed that the young Dark Lord was contemplating something, which was never a good sign.

"...and she will now be sorted and welcomed into her new house. " After making a quick gesture in Hermione's direction, Dippet sat down.

Hermione was jolted out of her observation of Tom Riddle when she noticed that she had once again, became the center of attention. Pretension aside, Hermione cringed at the thought of acting friendly to the slimy snakes. With that thought, she let the hat settle on her head.

"What is this I see? An inquisitive mind, yes, very bright indeed... " Although Hermione had braced herself for every possible outcome, she panicked.

"Please, put me in Slytherin." Hermione closed her eyes and concentrated on repeating the thought.

"Are you sure? Your intelligence would make you most suitable for Ravenclaw."

"Slytherin, I ask for no more and no less." She gritted her teeth.

"Very well, you ambition will make you great. SLYTHERIN!" The hat boomed, its voice seemed to echo in the large hall. There was a change in atmosphere, the Slytherins began clapping, the rest of the house followed, almost sluggishly. Hermione couldn't help but look at Professor Dumbledore, the old man kept his face blank, he wasn't looking in her direction.

* * *

Tom was puzzled by the girl's sorting. He knew the girl was suspicious when he first saw her. He remembered her calling out to him, he could see the gears turning in her head before she decided to dismiss the idea, so he purposely waited till she caught up with him and followed her instead. But things are not adding up for him, he remember seeing the girl's red cloak and the Gryffindor symbol sewed onto it, and the next thing he knew she's a member of his house. Mentally, Tom made a note to do a bit of investigation on the girl.

* * *

After dinner, students headed for their respective dorms. As Hermione stood up to leave, her wrist was grabbed by none other but the notorious teenage Dark Lord.

"Miss Fossil, I'm sorry for treating you harshly last night. To make up for it, may I have the pleasure of escorting you to our common room?" Tom knew it was good opportunity to probe the new, probably fake, snake.

Gooseflesh crawled up Hermione's arm, she nodded stiffly and let herself be led by the Head Boy. As they descended down to the dungeons, an ominous feeling rose in her stomach. Hermione did not pay attention to Head Boy's words. She was concentrated on the Dark Lord's back as if she expected him to turn around and hex her anytime for pretending to be snake. She also glared as hard as could since he wasn't looking, if looks could kill, Tom Riddle would have died a thousand times.

It did not really occur to Hermione that she was in the Slytherin domain until they reached the common room, which she entered apprehensively. It was quite the opposite from the Gryffindor common room, which was often warm and welcoming, this place was dark and damp and it reeked of extravagence.

The windows gave the common room a sickly green sheen, like the colour of the killing curse. The sofas were made out of black leather, they look expensive, but cold, nothing cozy like the ones in Gryffindor common room. Several Slytherins lounged around in the common room, like snakes, their curious gaze followed her but they did not move from their spot. She felt that the room had an evil aura constantly hovering in the air, every little exchange between its occupants seemed like a conspiracy to Hermione.

Too concentrated in her assessment of the Slytherin common room, Hermione didn't noticed that the future Dark Lord had stopped in his track until she bumped into him.

"Sorry," she muttered, attempting to maneuver her way around to explore further.

"Don't worry about it." Hermione's attention perked up at the Head boy's voice. Hermione reprimanded herself severely for she had let her guard down and temporally forgotten that she was with the future Dark Lord. Hermione tried to feign a smile but failed, so she simply dipped her head in "shame".

* * *

Tom was uncomfortable, and as much as he hated to admit it, he was slightly dismayed. This Pauline, she appeared an average shy girl. She had all the common courtesies. Yet, she was not fooled by his charm, in fact, quite the opposite, she seemed to hate him. There was a scowl in her face which wasn't there before she knew it was him that she bumped into.

Tom's eyes lit up with an interested gleam, the girl seemed to have secrets that could possibly concern him, and he had decided that he needed to find out more about her.

* * *

The rest of the night was rather uneventful for Hermione as she sat on the sofa reading her textbook sulkily. Despite wanting to earn Voldem...Tom Riddle's trust so she could approach him to carry out her plan, Hermione stayed as far away from the young Dark Lord as possible.

Hermione wondered if she had became paranoid as every little movement in the common room startled her. Deciding she couldn't concentrate, Hermione headed for the girls' dorms. Just as she stood up to leave, the Dark Lord called out to her. Under the calculated gaze of other snakes, he walked up to her gracefully and talked in a low voice so only she could hear his words.

"Word of caution, Miss Fossil, you might want to avoid spilling the secret that you were a Gryffindor before. I'm sure you are aware of the hostility between the two houses."

"Thank you, Mr..." she hesitated, "...Riddle, I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

"No problem, it'll be our little secret." He smiled and winked at her before heading in the opposite direction.

Hermione shuddered at his tone, she had to try her best to walk toward the girls' dorm even though her body urged her to run. Closing the door behind her cautiously, Hermione heaved out a sigh of relief, her eyes scanned the room and found the dorm empty. Hermione didn't know if she should feel relieved that she didn't have to interact with her Slytherin dorm mates, or be worried that she would having to introduce herself tomorrow morning, but that should really be the least of her concerns now.

Hermione rubbed her temple, the Dark Lord's voice haunted her mind. Hermione decided that she needed to plan for the Dark Lord's demise, and to execute that plan before she went crazy from his mind games.

**Author's note:** University is starting to get intense, there goes my freedom. I'll try to update as often as possible, but it's hard for me to write stories without making it sound like a science report now that I have to write 2-3 lab reports a week. But no worries, I would definitely stick to one update per week, and I look forward to seeing you guys soon again~ :)


	5. A Lion Amongst Snakes

I should not be doing this, I have so much homework! Oh dear, I guess I love procrastination too much for my own good. Anyways, thanks for reading and enjoy!

Catheline: Thank you for the review! I really appreciate it! :)

GardenofSnow: Thank you for the review, expecially thanks for helping me realize where I made my mistakes! :)

You guys have to check out this video! It's one of the best I've seen. The music is amazing. It's called Hermione/Tom's Diary - The Walk[Tomione] by katarinamor

watch?v=Ksd9NKQlmQQ

Just saying, any video I post in the chapters will be available on my profile for your convenience. :)

**A Lion Amongst Snakes**

Hermione was awakened early in the morning by the chatter of girls in her room. She pulled her pillow over her head, trying to block out the noise. After deciding it was useless as frustration built up from her failure to fall back asleep, Hermione kicked off her blanket and sat up. Her eyes widened in alarm when she found herself in a room full of green furniture. It took her a moment to remember that she was granted her wish and that now she was stuck in the Slytherin lair.

Hermione looked around quickly, there was nobody in the room, the noises had came from the bathroom. She was pleased to see her robe and textbooks all piled neatly on the table beside her bed, although the Slytherin crest and green colour still came as a shock to her eyes, Hermione figured she'd get used to it eventually. Before she could reach for the book, one of the girls came by fixing her already perfect hair.

"You must be the new girl. I'm Emilia Parkinson. Welcome to Slytherin." There was a snobbish quality to her voice. One glance at her face, Hermione was pleasantly surprised by how much Pansy's grandmother looked like a...pug. Well, something just never changed.

"Her... Pauline Fossil, pleased to make your acquaintance." Hermione had nearly said her real name out loud, she was glad that a good night sleep had cleared her head considerably for her to catch herself.

The girl arched one of her sharp brows. Hermione's heart jolted, was the Slytherin already suspicious of her? Emilia inclined her head, Hermione eyes followed hers and found that the girl raised her eye brows because Hermione had failed to notice that Emilia had offered to shake her hand.

Hermione caught Emilia's extended hand quickly, her heart was still pounding in her ears. Hermione had to force herself to smile genuinely when all she wanted was to do was release her nervousness.

When more girls emerged from the washroom to introduce themselves, Hermione found that all the girls that shared her dorm and several girls from neighboring rooms were all part of Emilia's gang. As much as she disliked the girl due to her future grandchild, Hermione was glad that she kept her courtesy with Emilia. Life in Slytherin would be hard enough without girl drama.

Upon arrival to Great Hall, Hermione automatically headed for the Gryffindor table, she had perceived the glares she received from the lions as a result of having the Slytherin girls walk too close her.

"What are you doing?" Emilia grabbed her by the back of her arm and hissed harshly. The last bit of sleep cleared from Hermione's head, she was upset when she found a few of the first years in Gryffindor looked like they were ready to attack her. For the first time in her life, Hermione was annoyed by the lions' ignorance enough to hex them in her head.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Hermione muttered and followed the group meekly to not draw attention. After she sat down, instead of eating, Hermione just traced the Slytherin crest on her robe absently, the green and silver thread felt smooth under her fingers, she poked it, bleakly wondering if the snake would somehow come alive and bite her finger.

A toast dropped onto the plate in front of her, Hermione looked up, startled. Tom Riddle had his wand pointed to the toast, he gave her a friendly smile, but Hermione felt vomit crawling up her throat as she found the expression on the Dark Lord as fake as ever.

* * *

Tom sat at the Slytherin table, his thoughts kept gravitating to the girl last night. When a flock of Slytherin girl appeared at the entrance of Great Hall, his eyes involuntarily zeroed onto the girl trailing a fair distance behind the group.

She evidently made the effort to groom herself in the morning; but compared to other girls, her bushy hair resembled the unruly mane of the lions. Tom was intrigued when the new Slytherin separated from the group, instead she headed for the Gryffindor table. How curious, he detected shock on the girl's face when she noticed the lions' irate attitude.

After Emilia guided Hermione to the right table, the girls sat in his vicinity, some batted their eye lashes at him. Hermione sat with her dorm mates, but she stayed as far as possible from Tom. Tom smiled politely in their direction, causing several girls to blush. His dark eyes landed on Hermione, who was playing with her robe, her fingers stroking the Slytherin crest over and over again as if she was in a trance.

Deciding to act friendly, he levitated a toast into her plate, she head snapped up to him in surprise like a hunted animal. Yes, like a prey, his prey, Tom thought as he smiled pleasantly at her. The girl glanced at the toast cautiously for a second before looking back at him, Tom Riddle could see that she had used up a lot of effort to melt her face into looking somewhat gracious, but her discomfort was made obvious by the way she munched on her toast sulkily.

Tom looked away to glance at his followers down the table, he had been rather bored lately. Despite the amount of school works, Tom had  
missed facing challenges. The Slytherins had been too submissive and the Gryffindors avoided him. The girl seemed like an interesting toy, she would have to do for now.

* * *

Hermione could feel the Dark Lord's predatory look, she fought to stop her legs from fidgeting. The toast in her mouth was insipid, in fact, she had been chewing and grounding her teeth on the same bite for a while now. At the thought that the toast was offered by none other than the future Dark Lord, Hermione wanted to vomit the disgusting goo out, but she stopped herself as she forced the content down her throat.

For Harry, she had to pretend, she had to gain Tom Riddle's trust so she could stab him when his back was turned.

It felt as if the breakfast had been dragged on for all eternity as Hermione continued to eat under Tom Riddle's watchful eyes. Every bite, every chew, every gulp started off forced, but eventually became mechanical as Hermione robotically repeated the motion.

When Hermione was almost done, she stuffed the rest of the toast into her mouth so she wouldn't have to verbally bid the Dark Lord good bye. After cleaning her fingers in a hurry, she stood up to give Tom Riddle an appreciative smile, but Tom stood up at the same time, his next words made Hermione's heart go cold.

"Miss Fossil, I believe we have our next class together. If you'd like, I can take you there." It wasn't a request, she could tell from his eyes that it was more of a command.

It took all Hermione's worth to not choke, she just nodded wordlessly, stunned.

* * *

Tom Riddle was considerate enough to not make Hermione talk with her mouth full, he stepped aside looking like a gentleman, secretly, he was enjoying the fact that he was causing the girl such discomfort.

* * *

"Ladies first." Hermione felt the toast slide down her throat almost painfully, things were going too fast for her, she had expected the Dark Lord to be cold and distant after their first encounter, but his behaviour now was only making her bristle with suspicion.

**Author's Note**: I hope you liked it, tell me what you think! :)

So... Tom and Hermione are going to have some alone time next chapter... I wonder what will happen. :P


	6. Confrontation

Hi, so here it is, a new chapter! :) I'm sorry about the irregular updates lately, I will try to stick to a minimum of updating once a week. Thank you for reading and thanks for the reviews!

Dodge 1989: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoy it! :)

GardenOfSnow: Thank you for the long review and I really appreciate your help and suggestion! :)

**Confrontation**

Hermione kept a fair distance away from Tom Riddle, she scolded herself silently. Hermione had decided that she would need to somehow trick Tom Riddle into going to a secluded place alone with her and dispose of him as soon as possible; but to achieve that, she would have to earn his trust first, and if she could somehow convince him to let his guard down by pretending to be weak and foolish, then that would be a bonus. But her body seemed to be unable to follow the command given out by her brain, Hermione strayed far away from Tom Riddle, causing the latter to stop several times to wait for her. Hermione could see suspicion building on the other's face.

"I'm sorry, Hogwarts is such a magnificent place, I just have to stop and marvel ever so often..." Hermione felt heat rising on her face at the lame excuse, but Tom Riddle just smiled at her politely, every bit of the Head Boy he was.

"That's fine. If you have time after classes today, I'd be honored to show you around the school."

_That's it! Chance to be alone!_ Hermione didn't allow herself time to think the offer over, part of her was already squirming to get out of this situation, but she had to do it.

Hermione nodded, trying to look excited, "That would be great! Thank you so much, Mr. Riddle." She tried to beam at him and was pleased by her acting.

* * *

Tom studied the girl's strained smile while he kept a vaguely pleasant expression on his own face.

The girl definitely had secrets, Tom noticed that the girl seemed to want to get close to him somehow, he didn't know why, but he was certain that her intention can't prove to be very beneficial to him. Although Tom was very cautious in assessing other's ability, he was also very much confident that the girl couldn't harm him if she tried, later in the day today he would find out what exactly was the girl up to. At the prospect of playing with his new prey, Tom smirked in anticipation.

* * *

The entire day of class had been pointless, aside from the having to pretend to be friendly with Tom Riddle in the beginning and after each class, Hermione doodled on the parchment before her. She had been unable to concentrate, there was a sinking feeling in her stomach every time she reminded herself to confront Tom Riddle after class today, which happened every three seconds or so.

Hermione couldn't say that she looked forward to see her last class end. In fact, if her fidgeting feet and clammy hands were anything to go by, Hermione would rather cast a Cruciatus curse on herself any time over earning her first kill...if she even succeed in overpowering the Dark Lord.

Today, one of them would have to die. Hermione shuddered at consequences of failure, surely the young Dark Lord was disturbingly talented in the art of torture. If he found out about her plan, a simple killing curse might prove to be the most merciful way he would deal with her.

Hermione glanced at the clock, only five minutes left before the end of the last class of the day. She touched the outside of her pocket, feeling her wand, soon to be turned into weapon. Hermione remembered back when she first received the letter from Hogwarts at the age of eleven, she had been so happy then, she was special, she was above average... Her fingers curled around the shape of her wand, a ghost of a bitter smile on her face as she continued to mock herself. Who would have thought, a simple wooden stick could decide your life and death?

To her great disappointment, the bell rang and the students swarm out of the classroom, elated to finally have their freedom back. Hermione dragged herself out of the room after a group of chattering students, her mind was reeling from all the possible scenarios of murder.

"Miss Fossil." Hermione walked on until she felt a hand clasp onto her shoulder, she jumped and spun around, her wand jabbed into the chest of the boy who just grabbed her, eyes flashing wildly.

Tom Riddle looked a bit too innocently at Hermione. "Anything wrong?"

_Everything is wrong, especially you._ Hermione retorted in her mind, but she quickly composed herself and put on an apologetic smile. "Nothing, I'm sorry, did you call me? I didn't hear you over the chatter of students." The truth was, his voice rang loud and clear, Hermione just didn't react to her new name since her mind was preoccupied with her plan to murder.

"That's ok," Mistrust was pooling in his dark eyes, but he dismissed the tension lightly, "I trust that you have time now...Miss Fossil?" he paused on the last part. Hermione clenched her jaw, she wanted to slap herself for letting her guard down.

"Of course." He nodded and started walking, much slower than he did when escorting her to their first class, his posture insisted that they walk at the same pace. Hermione swallowed as she pretended to marvel at the architecture, she was feeling very uncomfortable walking alongside of the future Dark Lord.

The two toured the castle rather quietly, any exchange of words remained strictly impersonal. Tom Riddle occasionally commented on a few of the structures, to which Hermione just nodded absently, her fingers traced the shape of the wand from outside her pocket.

When they turned a corner, Hermione saw Professor Dumbledore walking toward them, she lowered her head to avoid looking into his eyes. The Transfiguration Professor had been keeping a close watch on her in class today, Hermione didn't enjoy being scrutinized with such suspicion, it reminded her of when she had pretended to be Bellatrix Lestrange.

Hermione glared at the ground, she wasn't going to fail this, she would not fail Harry, this was for the best, she would be the only one who had to sacrifice... Luckily, the future Headmaster simply passed them without a word.

There was an emotion in Hermione that she could not describe at the sight of Dumbledore, she suppose it was irritation, the last person she wanted to see before committing a heinous crime would be her old mentor. It had taken her the whole day to build up the resolve, yet guilt sprouted from her heart at the sight of the Light Lord.

_This is for the greater good_. Hermione repeated in her head. She swallowed uneasily. She halted in her way. For the first time, she stood tall and straight, her chin jutted slightly and she met Tom Riddle's dark eyes straight on unflinchingly.

"I was wondering if you could show me the Forbidden Forest." The other's eyes darted to her cautiously, Hermione tried to look sincere even though she was very much disturbed by his act.

"You are aware that there's a reason it's called the 'Forbidden Forest', Miss Fossil?" He spoke lightly, there was a stress on the word "Forbidden"; yet he didn't look disapproving. Hermione decided that she's push for it, so she nodded.

"I thought Slytherins don't care for rules." Even though Hermione knew it was pointless to provoke someone calm and calculating like Tom Riddle, she had to try.

"Well said," He smirked at her almost mischievously, but his eyes remained cold, "a short while there shouldn't cause much harm."

Something about the way he mentioned harm made Hermione want to run the opposite way, but she just looked at him until he turned around to lead her.

* * *

They were back to leading and following. Tom observed, he wasn't all that concerned with the idea of the girl behind his back. He couldn't sense any dark magic in her. Even if she did try to hex him, he could overwhelm her easily. On top of that, no one with a brain would want to curse their own house mate while in the castle, they wouldn't be able to escape. The more time he spent with her, the more information he would be able to obtain from her.

The girl was acting rather Gryffindor, she was inept at hiding her feelings and she was not very cautious judging from the fact that she nearly joined the Gryffindors during breakfast, failing to notice the murderous intent of the lions. Furthermore, the girl appeared to be unable to recognize her own name. She was very wary of him, which only proved his speculation that she knew something she shouldn't. Tom was rather looking forward to getting Pauline alone with him, and the silly girl had just provided him with the chance to isolate her.

* * *

As they walked out of the castle and toward the Forbidden Forest in silence, Hermione noticed that there were less people around, which should be exactly what she wanted, but the mere presence of Tom Riddle alone unnerved her, her heart was pounding in her chest, she could hear it in her ears and she wondered if he could hear it too. Hermione felt dizzy, as if she was ready to fall over any second. Although the sun hadn't set yet, but Hermione felt that the sky had darkened and she wanted to go back to the safety of having other companies. She looked at his back in front of her, her hand was on her wand, tracing its shape almost obsessively.

"Avada Kedevra." Hermione muttered quietly under her breath at the Dark Lord's back, the words tasted horrible on her tongue and it caused an image of sickly green light to rise in her mind.

Tom Riddle stopped in his track, his back still facing her. Hermione froze, terrified that he'd heard her, but he simply said, "We are here." She looked up at the dark masses of trees, an ominous feeling sat in the pit of her stomach.

**Author's Note**: So now they are _really_ alone, I think we can have some actions go on in the next chapter, no? Tell me what you think please! ;)


	7. Cornered

Yup, this chapter is a tiny bit longer than usual, so you guys better review! Just kidding, I'm grateful enough that you are reading my story, but it would still be much appreciated if you review. ;)

Guest: Thanks and I'm glad that you like it. :)

Diane Potter: Thank you, he... *covers mouth before spoiling the chapter* ...just scroll down please. :P

GardenOfSnow: I'm flattered! :D I was reading the reviews in some class I dislike with a passion, and I couldn't stop smiling at your hilarious review!

Samara Sweet: Thanks! It's my goal to keep the characters acting like themselves. :)

Something that might come in handy when you read this chapter: Grindelwald kept away from wherever Dumbledore was during his revolution because he feared the old fo... I mean Dumbledore's power. (ok, I really need to get out of Tom's mentality. I bear no resentment against Dumbledore, I actually find him quite endearing despite how I portray him in the story sometimes.)

**Cornered**

Tom was surprised by the two words uttered by the girl, despite the incantation, he could not sense a trace of Dark Magic in her.

Tom had wanted to question her identity since she was resorted in the Great Hall. A lot of things didn't add up. The girl was clearly wearing the Gryffindor uniform when he first met her, and she appeared to have a habit of going to the Gryffindor table. Though Tom couldn't care less about the idiots in the house of lions, he did not recall seeing Pauline's face ever since he attended Hogwarts. It was also peculiar that Dumbledore seemed to be concerned by the rate he was eyeing Pauline in class.

Tom knew the Gryffindor-loving fool had always distrusted him, the man had tried to use Legilimency on him, he narrowed his eyes, could it be Dumbledore's intention to send a spy into Slytherin? Tom found the idea approaching absurdity. Surely the old fool would only trust someone who was completely Light, not only in practise, but also in beliefs. Most people couldn't even bear to hear about the Killing Curse, let along speaking its incantation out loud. Yet this girl... she must either be an experienced practitioner of Dark Arts or a pathetic victim who had witnessed too many accounts of the particular curse.

But then, where could the girl have possibly possibly witnessed the Killing Curse, not to mention experiencing the situation enough times to get accustomed to seeing death? Tom wondered if she lived somewhere else during Grindelwald's revolution... He immediately banished the thought before he could finish it, he would not delude himself into believing the girl's lies. Part of Tom doubted the Sorting Hat would play along if it was in fact part of Dumbledore's plan. Although the Sorting Hat respected a student's choice, the personality of the student was vital in which house he/she was sorted into.

But if Pauline's Dumbledore's little spy, then Tom would confess that he's rather disappointed by the lack of wisdom shown by the old man in choosing such an... inept candidate. The girl failed to respond to her name and she could barely hide her resentment for him. Even an utmost idiot would have drawn the conclusion by now that the girl was under some sort of disguise.

"Mr. Riddle?" he turned around when he heard the soft crunch of fallen leaves behind him, signifying the girl's position. Uncertainty was clear on her soft face. He studied her without attempting to hide his interest, she quickly looked down, avoiding his eyes. Tom narrowed his eyes at the girl before him.

"Tell me about yourself, Miss Fossil." She head snapped up, like a startled deer, but not before Tom composed his expression into one of friendliness.

"What do you mean?" The girl tried her best to sound casual, but her posture was stiff and cautious.

"Let's start off with something simple, how did you get Dumbledore agree to a resort?" He purposely emphasized the word "resort", taking pleasure in watching the girl pale by each passing second.

"Wh...what are you talking about? I never had a house before Slytherin. It's like Headmaster Dippet has said, I was homeschooled previously, I just transferred..." She began stuttering, Tom wanted to sneer at the girl's clumsy attempt at lying. He tilted his head, the girl halted in the middle of her alibi, her mouth opened and closed pathetically like a fish out of water.

"I thought we are pass that, tell me who you really are." He stalked toward her smoothly like a predator, Tom allowed his intention to show in his smile.

The girl stared back at him, trying to look confused and innocent but the muscles in her jaw were strained. Tom chuckled softly as he continued to push the girl into a corner.

"As I recall, you did not correct me when I told you to not disclose your former house to fellow Slytherins." The girl's jaw dropped open and her chocolate eyes widened at the realization.

"Wa...was that what you said that night? Sorry I didn't hear..."

He stepped closer and she backed away a small step, he pressed on ruthlessly, "You seem to be under the impression that like the rest of the students, I was convinced by your lies that you are a transfer student, you played along when I offered to show you around Hogwarts yet you were unable to find Professor Dumbledore's office. So tell me, who are you, Pauline Fossil?" He stood towering over the small girl, internally smirking at the girl's reaction.

* * *

He had said it in his usual quiet voice, but the content hit Hermione like a screaming train, she felt like all the air had been sucked out of her lung. Her mind was going a million miles per hour. Merlin's pants! How could she have been so careless? After spending all of her time on analyzing his words and actions, she had fallen straight into his trap nonetheless.

Amusement was glinting in Tom Riddle's evil eyes, the corner of his mouth twitched, like he was about to smirk. Hermione didn't think Tom Riddle would question her, she had half expected him to trick her into telling him on her own accord, but then again, what had he got to lose? From Dumbledore's penesive, she figured that Tom Riddle was someone who only bothered to use charm for the sake of his devious plans. Not to mention...they were alone in a place that could't be found by students or professors alike for up to weeks at least.

"I..." She began but paused before she could get out the next word, her mind was still working furiously trying to come up with a convincing story.

"Of course, you don't have to tell me if it puts you in a difficult position." Tom Riddle spoke lightly, but his eyes said the opposite, they looked like two black holes on his face in the darkening sky, threatening to devour her. He reminded her of a hungry wolf and his next words confirmed her fear.

"I don't know how you managed to earn the professor's trust, but you are a menace to the safety of the students. As the Head Boy, I have the responsibility to protect the students from harm... you do understand right?" He voice was gentle now, his face could almost be the picture of genuine regret if cruel gleam in his eyes was neglected.

Hermione forced herself to be calm, she regarded him neutrally, "You are aware that some students saw you leaving with me, correct?

"A little mistake that could be easily rectified." Hermione balled her fists, it appeared that her little threat only served to amuse him.

"How?" She managed to mumble out despite the mixture of anger and fear that was choking her.

"I believe that is none of your concern, Miss Fossil."

Hermione backed away slowly while keeping her eyes on the Slytherin Heir. She was too afraid to blink, her breath was becoming shallow and frantic. Her current situation was strangely reminiscent of the way Harry was killed. _And it was the same place too,_ Her mind added quietly, but she couldn't die yet.

Hermione tried to reach for her wand without being noticed by the Slytherin. Her hand fumbled fruitlessly in her robe pocket, it took a while for her sweaty fingers to grasp the smooth wood of the her wand. She whipped it out and pointed it at Tom Riddle with both of her hands on the wand, the wand shook before her eyes.

The other's eyes flickered to the wooden stick she was clutching like a life line sharply before he peered at her face again. Though Tom Riddle kept his face blank, Hermione could feel the thick air of mockery rolling off him.

"Oblivia..." she shouted with desperation.

"Expelliarmus." He sounded completely at ease and the next second he was twirling her wand in his slender fingers. Tom Riddle continued to advance on Hermione until her back was pressed against a tree.

"Now..." He said quietly, she could feel his hot breath on her face. There was an audible pop in her head and something just snapped.

"You'll murder me with the killing curse?" Hermione was proud that her voice had came out aggressive.

Tom Riddle's eyes widened, he stepped back a bit, allowing Hermione to breath while his eyes sized her up curiously.

"What made you think..." He began innocently.

"Stop pretending!" Hermione bit out, her words now a harsh hiss, "I know you don't have the trace on your wand by the ministry!" Tom Riddle froze, but the next second his icy fingers wrapped around her neck, his eyes cold and dripping with malice.

"How did you know?" Tom Riddle's grip on her neck tightened as he finished the sentence through gritted teeth. He looked truly murderous now, but Hermione doubted it would make a difference to her fate at his hand.

"Why do you care? It's not the first time you've murdered and got away with it." Hermione bit out each word with great difficulty. Less air was coming to her lungs now, her insides felt like they were on fire. But she still managed to grin triumphantly as an ugly expression of rage shadowed his face.

* * *

Tom had not really been aiming to kill the girl, at least not today. He didn't have anything suitable with him to use to make a horcrux, and that old fool Dumbledore had his eyes on the girl as well. Tom was just trying to get the girl to spit out her secrets, but things just got serious. Tom frowned the more he thought about it, maybe he _would_ have to dispose of the girl here, nobody would find her body for a long time. But before that, he would have to figure out where did the secret leak out, or rather, how did the girl get it.

"I'm going to make you a deal." Tom was still holding the girl by her neck, he did so loosely now. She narrowed her eyes at him, but chose to stay silent.

Tom was impressed by the way the girl remained defiant in the face of her death. Not that she wasn't scared one bit, but Tom had to respect the girl for her courage even though it irritated him that she wasn't struggling.

Interesting, the girl does not seem to display normal reactions shared by others, she would make a wonderful toy to break. Pity, he would have to kill her as soon as he get her to reveal her secrets.

**Author's Note**: Bad university! I only got 3 hours of sleep and I'm feeling an overwhelming sense of giddiness at the moment. I should caution those who cross my path... Anyways, tell me what you think please. :)


	8. Deal

Hi, guys, happy belated Valentine's day! I'm sorry that I'm not making the characters celebrate the day in the story because they haven't gotten to that stage yet and I'm pretty sure most of you would be horrified if I went through it with. :P As usual, thank you all so much for your support and reviews! :)

Zeehana: Thanks! I'm glad that you like it. :)

GardenOfSnow: Thanks! You comment never fails to amuse me, and hopefully this chapter serve to relax you a bit before the action picks up again. :D

Guest: Thank you! Reviews aside, I consider myself really lucky to have readers like yourself. :)

Galceon of the Blue Variety: Thank you for the long constructive criticism! :D I'll definitely keep your suggestions in mind when I edit my past and future chapters.

**Deal**

"What made you think that I'd work with an evil git like you?" Now that she had her air back, Hermione tried to snarl her words to make herself sound somewhat ferocious, but her voice came out rather weak - a fact that Hermione resented very much.

Tom Riddle merely raised an eyebrow at her, again, he became the picture of perfect innocence save for the evilness pooling in his dark eyes.

"I thought we are friends, Pauline?" Hermione frowned at the use of her first name. Tom Riddle said it as if he had forgotten everything that happened in the last few minutes. He even held out her wand for her.

Hermione snatched her wand back, but she did not try to curse him again, fully knowing the futility of the act.

"We _were_ friends, but you turned out to be a foul, loathsome, evil, little cockroach." Being near death must had done something to her, Hermione was surprised when she found herself yelling at the future Dark Lord the same way she did with Draco Malfoy.

"Language, Pauline, language." He chided, his lips were pressed into a tight line, but he seemed vaguely...amused, which only served to infuriate Hermione further. Too angry to come up with a comeback that was remotely intelligible, Hermione settled for glaring at Tom Riddle wordlessly.

Taking advantage of her silence, Tom Riddle pressed on, "I will let you go, but you will give me the information I want, and you will withhold from others information about me. In return, I'll answer any reasonable questions you have."

"I claim the right to speak my mind to others."

"Deal." Tom agreed without blinking. A surge of magic secured their deal.

Horror grew in the pit of her stomach as Hermione realized she had unknowing agreed to the deal on her behalf by arguing for the terms, Hermione felt that she had literally just sealed her deal with the devil.

It took Hermione's frantic brain a second too late that the terms were uneven, the condition "reasonable" would mean that the Slytherin Heir could deny her an answer any time he wanted while she would not be able to reject him if he had asked seriously.

A bitter smile lifted the corner of her lips. It was probably the best she could ask for in situation like this. Her goal was to kill Tom Riddle before he learn too much about the future, and her current position hardly allowed her to do anything.

* * *

Tom was curious, but he's never reckless, horcruxes aside, Tom knew silencing Pauline was probably the best course of action, but he found himself reluctant to do so despite the fact that having one less people know too much about him would definitely benefit him.

The girl was an interesting toy to relieve him of boredom, but she was also a menace; however, it could be turned into an advantage if he's careful enough with the way he would treat her next. It would be in his best interest lure out the traitor who leaked out information about him. Fortunately, the girl had enough sense of self-preservation to not disappoint him.

Tom stood back to give her some space, the girl immediately jumped away from him, her hands snaked around her own neck. The girl obviously thought the action would  
protect herself from him, how adorable, he scoffed mentally.

Her body convulsed as a shiver seemed to climb up her body, the next second the girl bent over, her shoulder shook as she coughed violently. Giving her a half sneer, Tom held out his hand in mockery of his early gentleman-like behaviour. She slapped it aside, her eyes flashing with unconcealed hatred.

"We are in the same house, the need to help my house mate takes precedence over my duty as the Head Boy." He winked at her.

Tom had to jump back immediately, for a bullet of spit landed precisely where his shoe was a second ago. He clicked his tongue.

"Now, now, that wasn't very nice, was it?"

* * *

Tom Riddle had sounded patronising. It made Hermione wish that she could kick the bastard in the shin, but she doubt her reflex was fast enough. Her lungs still burned from lack of oxygen, she winced when her fingers grazed the tender spot on her neck, it still throbbed from his earilier touch .

"I'm going back to the castle now." Despite Hermione's wish to sound aggressive, she was breathless and her voice rose with a tremble near the end.

Hermione turned her back on him. Tom Riddle wanted something from her, she could only hope that he would refrain from killing her before he got it... that is to say if she didn't kill him first.

There was still a heaviness in Hermione from the knowledge that Tom Riddle could've just used Legilimency on her. But now that the mask of courtesy was practically broken, Hermione knew she would be ready if he came charging at her at moment.

Secretly, Hermione was glad that everything happened so she would have no qualm against destroying the monstrosity known as Tom Riddle.

"Are you sure you don't need me to escort you back, Miss Fossil? Some creatures around here can be quite dangerous." He called out from her back. She swiveled around.

"Really? I don't think they can get any more dangerous than the one before me." Without waiting for a response, Hermione sprinted toward the castle. She could hear Tom Riddle from behind her, his laugh bounced off the trees and she ran faster, desperate to escape his presence.

* * *

Tom watched as the girl disappeared into the trees in the direction of the castle. He couldn't help but laugh, the girl had made the night rather interesting for him, no, not just that, she's going to be fun to toy around for the next while before he got bored again.

The girl's knowledge just made the game more interesting as Tom realized they are playing at an unfair ground with her possessing more knowledge about him than vice versa.

Knowledge was power and Tom had always enjoyed a challenge to his power because he relished every chance to crush an audacious fool ruthlessly. Tom knew if he couldn't found out a way to reveal the girl's mystery in time, his reputation could be suffer the blunt end of his decision. However, the fact that Dumbledore had yet to send the Ministry after him made Tom doubt once again if the girl was indeed the old fool's spy.

Tom could have simply used Legilimency and the girl would be open before him like a book, but where would be the fun in that? No, he would enjoy teasing out information from the girl bit by bit. he would toy with her until she became battered and broken, perhaps he would even send her to Dumbledore as a Christmas present with a nice, big bow on her head.

Tonight had been a miscalculation on his part, he was too surprised by her sudden release of information, he nearly tossed away the chance to savour the hunt before he could end it with victory.

Tom decided that he would have to plan for a few occasions to earn the girl's trust, so she'd be more willing to spit out her secrets.

* * *

Hermione ran toward to the castle, somehow the little path between the castle and the Forbidden Forest seemed to stretch on forever. She checked her back every few seconds, fearing that she'd find a beam of green light heading toward her.

When she finally arrived at the dungeon and got through the heavy portrait door, Hermione headed toward her dorm, she felt too mentally exhausted from interaction with Tom Riddle to have an intelligent conversation with anyone, much less any of the snakes. Some Slytherins were lunged on the sofa in the Common Room, Hermione found their eyes probing and intrusive, but she tried her best to act calm and normal.

After the door of her dorm slammed behind her, Hermione was disappointed to find that she wasn't alone in the dorm. She forced herself to relax, but her muscle failed to follow her instruction. Rushing into the washroom so no one else would catch her in her vulnerable state, Hermione closed the door and leaned against it.

Her fingers were twitching, she hugged herself tightly and slid down to sit on the floor, the chilliness of the stone tiles made her tremble more. Hermione stayed in that position for a while before she took a quick shower and jumped onto her bed without bidding anyone good night. To ignore the curious looks coming from her dorm mates, Hermione pulled her blanket over her head.

There were a few whispers, and then the light went off abruptly. Hermione waited in the darkness for a while for her dorm mates to fall asleep. Then, she peeked out from under the blanket, it was too dark for her to confirm if all the girls were asleep. But Hermione sneaked out of her bed anyways to get the photo she had hidden in one of her textbooks.

The coldness of the room gave her goose bumps, Hermione dived back into her warm bed as soon as her fingers closed around the photo. She pulled the blanket over her head and took out her wand.

"Lumos," she whispered. Hermione knew it was a dangerous move, any girl that was still awake would be able to see light penetrating through her blanket, but she didn't care.

A boy was smiling brightly with her in the moving frame. Shakily, Hermione traced her fingers over the photo, her heart felt like it was squeezed, each breath she took was agonizing. She smiled back at the boy in the photo ruefully, the corner of her lips weighed a thousand tons. Her lower lip trembled, Hermione barely had time to take a hitched breath before the first sob came choking out.

**Author's Note**: So what do you guys think? It would be very much appreciated if you could leave a review! :)

Announcement: I might make some changes to the chapters that are already out, I don't really know the magnitude of the changes that will take place, but I'll try to keep the plot similar to what I have now to save you guys the trouble to rereading them. So far, I've only went through all the chapters to rephrase some of the sentences and changed the wrong tenses. I might list all the changes I made to previous chapters in this author's note, and the list may increase throughout the week, so stay tuned! :) (Changes so far: Chapter 1)

Please don't read beyond this sentence if you would rather reread the chapters and find out the changes yourself. :)

**Chapter 1:** Dumbledore told Hermione about Harry's impending death, but he made her swear an oath to not tell Harry nor intervene. Dumbledore has seen how devastated Hermione had been when Ron was killed. After much debate, Dumbledore told Hermione. He hoped he would prepare Hermione for Harry's death so she would not be as devastated. It was a warning for Hermione to treasure every moment she got to spend with Harry. Dumbledore told Hermione out of the goodness of his heart, but it had negative consequences since it put Hermione in a difficult position.


	9. Pretension

A big thank you to those who have stuck with me up till now!

HarmonyGames: Thank you for the reviews! Yup, I'm in university, I wish I had started writing earlier, because now I really have no time but fanfiction is still my priority. :)

Guest: I'm glad you thought of me when gaming. Thanks! (I'm an extreme game addict! :D) Unfortunately, fanfiction seem to block most of the websites posted here.

hearts in ashes: Thank you! I've been trying to read new pairings myself lately so I totally understand! Take your time, I'm very happy that you like my story! :)

GardenOfSnow: Thanks! :D I nearly fell off my chair laughing because your comment is just so hilarious! Now I really can't get the image of Tom the cockroach out of my head. (which is really disturbing considering how I had Voldemort eating clustered cockroaches in another story... )

Ainums: Thank you for all the reviews! You support is really appreciated! Ok, the smile is stuck on my face and I can't get it off. :D Anyways, I'm glad you like this story! (now imagine me bouncing like an idiot on my seat from pure happiness)

I'd like to thank my beta, Glaceon of the Blue Variety, for helping me with my story. You are so patient with me. Thank you for taking the time to edit my writing! :)

A big thank you to Katarina-Mor, who made an illustration based on this story. You really made my day! :D

art/Tom-and-Hermione-354649585

The cover of this story is actually the picture by Katarina-Mor! I wish I could give credit to her in my summary, but I don't have any word count left. Does anyone have a suggestion of how can I make my summary more concise beside writing "summary inside"?

* * *

**Pretension**

The next day, Hermione entered the Great Hall alone with swollen eyes. She had asked the girls to not wait for her. Thankfully, none of them questioned her. They simply scuttled out of her path whenever she was headed somewhere. At one point, they almost fled from the room—Emilia being the only exception to all these rules.

Hermione sat far away from Tom. She didn't bother to sit with her dorm mates this time; her eyes were glued to her plate and her face was hidden in shadows.

Hermione didn't know what to do. She supposed she should just pretend that nothing had happened last night, but it was impossible, considering the fact that she was sitting at the same table with her most hated enemy, who would also be responsible for numerous deaths in the future.

The Great Hall was as loud as usual with the exception being the table to one side. The Slytherin table was sparsely filled. It was unusually quiet. The sound of forks and knives clanking against porcelain plates was made especially loud due to the lack of exchange that occurred over the table. There were a few whispered conversation but most students kept to themselves — the new arrivals sitting wordlessly as well.

After the most of the Slytherins had taken seat, Hermione heard a few students from the other side of the table gasp. The sharp intake of breaths seemed to travel down the table. Something grazed her arm lightly and the next thing she knew, Tom Riddle was sitting beside her.

"Are you alright?" Tom Riddle inquired casually. Dark eyes met Hermione's brown ones. There was a light frown on his face as his eyes traveled over her, taking in her unkempt state.

If Hermione hadn't known any better, she'd say he sounded genuinely concerned. Pointedly ignoring his existence, she concentrated on her food.

Tom Riddle turned to talk to other Slytherins. Hermione played with her food, cutting and slicing the pieces until they became too small to be picked up with a fork. She heard him sigh beside her.

The dish was pulled away from her. Tom Riddle cut the pancake in his dish into perfect bite sizes swiftly, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and pushed it in front of her. Hermione didn't eat, she just stared at him.

"What? Am I your pet now?" Somehow, she had the ridiculous urge to try intimidate him using her red and swollen eyes.

"Now, Pauline, you wouldn't want the others to find anything out of ordinary about your behaviour, would you?" Tom Riddle's face leaned toward her so no one would hear her, his breath tickled her ear.

Hermione felt her body going stiff. The table was eerily quiet but she didn't dare risk looking away from the Dark Lord.

"Why wouldn't I?" she challenged.

"Because..." Tom Riddle glanced sideways. Hermione followed his gaze to find some Slytherin girls gulping at them. Her body shook with revulsion as she realized the girls must had seen their exchange as a lover's spat.

"Look, _Tom Riddle_," Hermione grounded out the name, "I would _love_ for them to know that we are nothing but enemies, and I think this is the perfect opportunity."

Noting many pairs of eyes on her, Hermione cleared her throat. She was about to stand up to make things official when a hand grabbed her wrist harshly and pulled her back down and toward him.

"Say one word and I will declare us as lovers," he hissed in her ear, "Let's match the power of Head Boy against the new girl, who do you think they would believe?" His hot breath was on her cheek, but Hermione shivered.

"Now I'm curious, aren't you? Shall we find out what your life would be like? Yes, shall we?" Her head whipped to the future Dark Lord, her eyes silently pleading and she hated the look of satisfaction on Tom Riddle's face.

Hermione shook her hand by a small degree, his grip held firm. They stared at each other for a little longer before she forced her muscles to relax and he released her.

Hermione hung her head, she rubbed her wrist absently. Her heart was pounding in her ears.

Tom Riddle leaned back and said, this time louder for everyone else around them to hear, "Dieting is not good for you, Pauline. Eat."

Then he grabbed himself another plate and filled it with food. Hermione continued to look at him for a little longer but Tom Riddle ignored her stare.

She convinced herself that Tom Riddle would be no harm to her as long as they are in populated areas. Hermione began to eat uneasily. She hated herself for following his order. It felt like she was chewing on rubber instead of food.

Hermione could hear the clanking around her as people resumed eating, casual chatters arose and the Slytherin table seemed almost normal to her.

Just after Hermione finished her breakfast, she stood up to leave. It was no surprise when Tom got up along with her. His arm snaked around her waist, but before she could pry it away, it tightened in warning. Hermione look up and saw Tom smiling and telling the rest of the Slytherins to see them in class. His smile seemed sinister to her.

Like snakes, the Slytherins regarded them curiously. Their eyes turned piercing as they landed on Hermione, she looked away from them.

Tom Riddle stopped squeezing Hermione's waist as soon as she stopped trying to wiggle out of his grasp and the two walked out of the Great Hall. The parting and walking only took a few minutes, but it had felt like eternity to Hermione.

* * *

Emilia watched the two exit the Great Hall in an intimate manner. It felt as if she couldn't get enough air to come to her lung.

This morning Tom had sat at the table with a blank face. Any Slytherin would have learned from the past years of experience to keep quiet or risk becoming Tom's target for verbal humiliation.

The Slytherin boys were a little tense as well. Everyone was early, except for Pauline. Emilia had tried to wait for the girl, but Pauline insisted that they go ahead without her.

The girl was a sight to be found in nightmare. Her eyes were brimming red and her face still had uneven patches pink. Emilia had felt sorry for Pauline when her sources reported that Pauline and Tom left the castle together.

Though Tom was charismatic and many worshipped the ground he walked on, he was also a hidden danger the Slytherins knew not to provoke. Over the years, they had became used to seeing Tom break ambitious new snakes one by one until they cowered in his presence. It was a lesson many had gone through, even the first years knew to never cross line with Tom despite his welcoming gesture.

Emilia swallowed. So history had repeated itself. She could still remember when one of the girls, Jessica, had first transferred to Hogwarts from Beauxbatons. The girl was foolish to defy Tom.

Emilia had to admit that she had hurt a lot of people and she was not entirely sorry about it either, but even she had to shudder when the vivid memory of Jessica's end came to her head.

-*flashback*-

_ Everyone knew to stay out of Tom Riddle's way. Not many people knew why, but that was simply a line the Slytherins knew not to cross. The exception came when a new transfer student from Beauxbatons was sorted into Slytherin. _

_ Her name was Jessica Taditore. Jessica distanced herself from the others. She held a certain contempt for the Hogwarts students and any conversation with her always resulted in a long list of Beauxbatons' superiorities compared to Hogwarts, but her arrogance only lasted until she bragged about herself being a muggleborn and insulted the Slytherin house for having a "silly belief" in blood purity. _

_ Lestrange had been oddly grave when he opened the door. The boy had lost his usual sneering cockiness. He was dragging an inanimate object behind him. It took Emilia a while to recognize that "something" was Jessica. _

_ The poor thing seemed like she had lost her soul. Her cloth was in tatters and she looked like she had waltzed with a werewolf. Emilia flinched in disgust at the state of the girl, but she caught the broken girl from Lestrange nonetheless. _

_ When Emilia tried to pull the streaky blond hair away from Jessica's face, she gasped at the sight before her. The girl's eyes were empty and her face was caked in dried mud._

_ When Jessica opened her mouth, nothing but a strangled croak came out. The girl buried her face in Emilia's robe, her fingers gripping Emilia like a dying man with his law straw. Emilia heard a rustle of cloth beside her. _

_ "I'm sorry it had came to this." Emilia looked up from the girl just in time to see Lestrange's wand glow a milky white. _

_ The next second, Jessica's fingers in her shirt came loose. Lestrange eyed the lifeless heap with an unfathomable expression before he turned and walked out of the room briskly._

-*end of flashback*-

Emilia still couldn't decipher the spell casted by Lestrange, she presumed it to be something created by Tom and his gang. But whatever the spell was, it changed Jessica, from the brooding girl she was to someone much more carefree, though the girl was annoyingly big-mouthed at times.

Merlin, Emilia couldn't help but feel the spell had somehow changed Jessica into a Griffindork, yet Emilia tolerated her. She pitied the girl for having been on Tom's wrong side even though Tom treated Jessica like a stranger after the incident.

Tom exuded an air of authority, and it certainly made Emilia's life easier by doing what Tom commanded. Emilia had persuaded herself to bury these memories deep inside her mind. It couldn't be helped, sometimes you had to join the darkness in order to survive.

Emilia often pondered about her unhealthy obsession over Tom despite his cruelty. It had been faked initially, but the feeling had became natural, sometimes she wondered if her admiration for Tom was still forced or if it had became genuine. She even tried to impress Tom by bullying several fellow classmates as well, but Emilia couldn't see herself doing anything nearly as cruel as Tom.

Emilia's eyes flickered to the door to catch Pauline's robe disappearing around a corner. Getting Tom's attention could only mean trouble.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, it came out as a sigh. Her mouth was set in a grim line as Emilia prepared herself to comfort another broken soul for later.

**Warning**: Tom is going to be a bit more Dark Lord-ish in this story than in canon. He will not try to suck up to everyone. Instead, he will secretly terrorize the Slytherins into following him. I'm thinking of keeping Tom as a figure who's charismatic on the outside, but extremely cruel once provoked. The Slytherins acted along when he's charming them because they didn't want to face his cruel side.

**Change:** There seems to be some confusion on why Tom had been bored. As you probably find out from this chapter, Tom no longer met any challenges. The Slytherins were submissive and the other houses avoided him. Tom saw Hermione as the new challenge, hence why he got so excited in the chase. That detail has already been added to a previous chapter. :)

**Author's Note**: So... now that we know a bit more about Tom's social life... Tell me what you think? ;)


	10. Consultation

Sorry for the late update. I've been feeling really slow this week =.=. (Just woke up from a nap and freaked out when I saw it snowing so horribly outside, oh dear I'm dreading the shoveling part...) I started watching Hetalia and did a few personality test for fun (before watching the show so I wouldn't be biased), so my personality is like Italy, huh... I think I'm starting to see a few resemblance. :P

Anyways, thanks for all the favs and follows, my dear. ^_^

Ainum: Awww, thank you so much for the review, you make me so happy too! :3 *A BIG hug from Canada!*

adwiti: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you enjoy the story. :D

guest: Thank you, here's the new chapter and sorry about being late. :)

* * *

**Consultation**

Once outside, Hermione slapped Tom Riddle's hand away as hard as she could; the latter simply smirked.

"Not liking my touch?" He asked pleasantly.

Hermione narrowed her eyes, she wanted to punch the stupid smirk off his face. Instead, she favoured him with a glare before wheeling around.

Part of Hermione imagined the motion somehow causing her hair to hit the future Dark Lord in the face. Of course, the git was too stealthy to be humiliated by silly tricks like that, Hermione knew the best way of fighting him would be to beat him at his own mind games — but it was an amusing thought nonetheless.

Hermione walked away quickly. She fervently hoped that by arriving at class early, she'd get to sit with someone else other than the despicable bastard.

To her great disappointment, nobody took the seat beside her. One Slytherin boy had walked in and sat beside an angry Gryffindor boy instead of sitting beside her. Their bickering could be heard from the Slytherin side of the room.

Hermione watched helplessly as the young Dark Lord strode toward her smoothly. She had to refrain from burying her face in her hands when she felt him sitting down beside her. No, she would not satisfy him with any reaction.

The day had been agonizingly long for Hermione. Tom Riddle had followed her out of every class, only to sat beside her in the next one. The content of the classes had been nearly identical to the courses Hermione had taken in her time. Yet, she lost to urge to answer any question in class. Not when her two best friends were absent and the future Dark Lord was sitting beside her all the time.

"Pauline." Said Dark Lord spoke beside her, his voice infuriatingly pleasant.

Hermione turned her face away from Tom Riddle. She had refused to talk to him whenever he tried to start a conversation. When it became necessary for her to speak due to partner work in Potions, she'd made sure each response was as short as she could possibly make it.

Slughorn seemed to have noticed the tension between the two, but he only shook his head and didn't comment. On the contrary, Dumbledore had been rather cheerful in Transfiguration, the twinkle in his eyes bright as ever.

After a long silence from the boy beside her, Hermione became perplexed. Tom Riddle had been constantly making attempts to speak to her for the entire time, so why did he stop now?

She risked a quick glance at him. The young Dark Lord seemed preoccupied, he was reading from a book that was piled on top of his textbook. His dark eyes were hooded... and did she imagine it? The corner of his lips seemed to pull down — he almost... looked hurt from her silent rejection.

_He should be happy, he got what he wanted, _Hermione thought bitterly, but then again, Tom Riddle's feeling really didn't matter to her. Merlin, she should stop confusing herself, _Tom Riddle is not Harry or Ron._ She was only observing his gesture so she could find his weakness and finish him off.

When the last bell rang, Hermione got up. She glanced at Tom Riddle, who was packing his stuff slowly.

"Bye." It was the first word she had said that day out of her own volition.

Tom Riddle paused in the middle of packing. There was a slow smile that lifted the corner of his mouth.

"See you at dinner," he answered. His dark eyes lit up by an unknown emotion.

Hermione stiffened; she took her books and nearly ran away.

* * *

Somehow, the simple word she had uttered during last class seemed to gave Tom Riddle a new sort of determination. He continued with his friendly chatter at dinner. Hermione answered absently while she picked at her food. It felt weird, as if the future Dark Lord was trying to please her. Hermione had to mentally kick herself when part of her brain suggested that Tom Riddle had a twisted way of apologizing for his behavior last night.

_No- __**no**_, she thought with a strong emphasis. Tom Riddle was evil, there was no question to it. If he had felt human emotions like remorse, he wouldn't have started making horcruxes, nor would he start a campaign that would involve killing numerous people for ridiculous reasons like blood purity.

* * *

Despite the lack of interaction between her and Tom Riddle, Hermione still felt exhausted. Instead of heading to the library to do more research, she returned to her dorm early.

Hermione flopped onto her bed with a sigh. She was enjoying the silver lantern and the green ceiling when she heard the door open and close softly. Then, Emilia's voice, annoyingly high pitched, pierced the blissful silence in the room.

"Who is Tom Riddle to you?" Hermione let out an exasperated sign before she heaved herself up and off the bed.

She was faced with a group of Slytherin girls with Emilia in the front. Emilia looked like she had just worked up the courage to talk to Hermione. The rest of the girls appeared wary as they fidgeted on the spot; their guarded eyes observed each one of her movement.

_Cowards,_ Hermione thought with annoyance, but she masked her feelings expertly.

"No one in particular, just a nice friend." Hermione nearly bit her tongue when she said "nice". Tom Riddle was anything but nice. In fact, the evil git was the exact opposite.

"Friend? Oh I don't think so; the way he treats you is special," some Slytherin girl behind Emilia gushed. She sounded like Parvati, Hermione had to hold back a smile at the memory of her friend who would do anything for a good gossip.

Emilia turned on the girl and jabbed her in the rib viciously. The girl mouthed a silent squeal before she scurried back to blend into the little gang again, head lowered in shame.

It took Hermione all her control to not question Emilia for her action. She looked at the Slytherin before her sharply, mouth pressed into a tight line.

Emilia stepped closer to her, he voice softened, "Pauline, we are just worried about you. Someone saw you going out with him, and then you came back crying..."

"I don't wish to talk about it, I'm sorry." What was she suppose to tell them? That Tom Riddle, the charismatic Slytherin prince, tried to kill her? They would definitely think of her as a classic case of attention seeker. The drama between girls, Hermione wanted to roll her eyes, dealing with Harry and Ron had been much more simple.

"He's the Head Boy, sweetie. He doesn't always have time to cater to the need of every girl. On the bright side, Tom never got a girlfriend since he started Hogwarts, so don't feel rejected, 'mkay?" Some girl began, while Emilia and others looked at Hermione sympathetically.

"Wait, what did you guys think happened between Tom Riddle and me?" Hermione interrupted. She was surprised. Did they think she cried because she confessed to him and got rejected?

"Honey, I understand that Tom is very charismatic, it's fine. You'll get over it. Tom is just nice to everyone." Emilia sat Hermione down on the bed. Then she sat down beside Hermione herself, looking every bit the counsellor.

"I think you misunderstood something," This whole comfort talk was getting on Hermione's nerve. What did they take her for? Some girl who fall head over toe for every guy that walk pass her?

"You mean you didn't like him?" Emilia looked puzzled, the pitch of her voice rose at the last syllable as if Hermione just said the most ridiculous thing in the world.

"No, he's a git..." Hermione huffed in annoyance at the memory.

"Merlin! I don't believe you," Emilia looked indignant now. Her face was a little red, "Tom is like..." she signed happily for a moment, looking suddenly dreamy.

Hermione wanted to burst her little bubble of fantasy and show her just how much of an evil git Tom Riddle really was, but she had to bite her tongue to hold back the barrage of insults that were coming up.

Hermione hated the Head Boy, especially the way he had plot everything so he would always benefit from them. Just when Hermione had thought that she won a little in their deal by gaining the right to speak about Tom Riddle in their deal, it held no threat to him. After all, he's the _perfect_ Head Boy. Who would believe her beside Dumbledore?

And Dumbledore... Hermione pursed her lips, she couldn't afford to tell Dumbledore anything. The man would most definitely try to stop her from destroying the Head Boy despite knowing the consequences, all due to his fear of messing up the time line. But couldn't he see the world would suffer more if Tom Riddle had lived?

"Ah-hem," Emilia let out a dry cough to bring Hermione's attention back into the conversation.

Just as Hermione was ready to give them a list of why would she rather jump off a cliff than date Tom Riddle, Hermione realized something else — if she told them that she didn't get Tom Riddle alone so she could confess to him, what should she say if they ask her what really happened?

Hermione knew that the girls couldn't possibly be genuinely concerned. They were just look for another topic to gossip in order to fill their frivolous, empty lives. Hermione could tell that they would not give up until they figured out her true relationship with Tom Riddle if she had told them that she did not try to confess to him.

She surveyed the girls quickly. They seemed as if they had their heads in a cloud. Hermione mentally sighed. So her roommates like to daydream... but at least they would be too preoccupied to scheme against her.

Taking advantage of their unfocused state, Hermione shot up and ran to the washroom. Before she closed the door, she shouted over her shoulder, her words coming out so rapidly it was a jumble.

"Actually, you know what? The whole day of school was making me tired. I guess I'll take a shower now if you guys don't mind." The door closed behind her soundly.

The girls in the room gaped, they eyes flickered from where Hermione was a second ago to the door.

"What was that?" Someone muttered dumbly.

"Whatever," another girl replied, then she sighed happily at her thoughts again.

**Author's Note**: So it looks like Tom is scheming something again, hmm? So...anyone has a guess? I'll give you a cookie for trying! :)

Just the other day, my acquaintance was just complaining to me about a know-it-all at her workplace called _Hermione_. Well, guess what I was thinking? ;) I really shouldn't feel this way, I should at least be somewhat angry at this "Hermione" rather than trying to stop myself from smirking the whole time.


	11. Manipulation

Hi guys, thank you all for your support, so here's the new chapter. :)

GardenOfSnow: Welcome back! :) I hope this chapter will answer most of your questions. As for Tom's plan, let's just say... *silenced by a Death Eater* (And if I start talking about how they are going to fall in love, I fear for my life before I even get to that part *trembles at a shadow looming behind me*) But here's your cookie! :D

FalconLux: Thank you so much for all your reviews! I really appreciate your suggestions. :D I was grinning the entire time I read them. I'm glad that you enjoyed the story so far, and I probably would have wet my pants if I had to lie to Dumbledore. I also agree that Hermione should have just avada'd him because Tom is such a git. :)

* * *

**Manipulation**

Now that Tom Riddle had made a deal with her, it would be hard for her to approach the future Dark Lord without him finding out a few secrets of the future first. Hermione knew she had to avoid him.

She had never hated her sympathy with a passion — it should have only been reserved for people who are worth it. Yet, all it took was for Tom Riddle to look hurt and she just had to open her mouth. Merlin, she probably imagined his facial expression, the Dark Lord most likely laughed at her stupidity when she was gone!

Hermione arrived at Potions class early and she stopped at the door, surveying the class. Not many people were sitting in their desks, the few that were seated were all unfortunately in pairs.

Not to be narcissistic, but Hermione knew Tom Riddle would sit beside her if the seat next to her was empty. It was certainly something she would like to avoid if possible. Preferably, Hermione would like to find someone sitting alone so she could go sit with that person. Yet being a new student, Hermione had not gotten the chance to make a lot of friends whereas most of her classmates would have known each other for a while. Well... there's also the problem of dealing with the future Dark Lord which kept her occupied most of the times.

Hermione's eyes swept over the seats again. No one was sitting alone. No one. She wouldn't have been able to avoid Tom Riddle if she had sat alone either, since nobody else would sit beside her yesterday. Her lips were pressed into a tight line. Hermione could not fathom their reluctance to approach her, had she grown another head or something? If only she could find someone she knew...

Then a smile lit up Hermione's face as she remembered her talk with her dorm mates last night, she could sit with Emilia and her gang! Though Hermione chose to hang out with Harry and Ron because she wanted to avoid the annoying gossip of some girls, but sitting with the girls was a much better option than Tom Riddle himself.

_At least there's no mortal danger,_ her mind added as an was excited at the prospect of sitting beside anyone but Tom Riddle. She practically skipped to an empty table and sat in it. Now hopefully Emilia and the others will arrive earlier than Tom Riddle.

The wait was making Hermione nervous, she turned around to look at the giant clock every now and then. Her body was twitching from anticipation. Luck must be on her side, because Tom Riddle was more tardy than usual and the girls entered the class before him.

Hermione waved at them from where she sat. She must have looked pretty silly, because they gave her a funny look, but they came to sit around her nonetheless. Hermione got to sit beside the girl who reminded her of Parvati while Emilia sat alone.

"Hi, I'm Pauline Fossil. What's your name?" The girl gave her a startled look at her enthusiasm. She replied somewhat timidly.

"Jessica Traditore. Nice to meet you."

Before Hermione could say anything else, she saw Tom Riddle enter the class out of the corner of her eyes. Emilia sat up straighter and smiled brightly at him, Tom Riddle gave her a somewhat dismissive smile. He headed straight to where Hermione sat and smiled charmingly at Jessica. The poor girl had probably never been awarded with this much attention in her entire life, for she suddenly became rigid. Her face was red like a tomato. She opened her mouth but clamped it shut.

"I have something I wish to discuss privately with Miss Fossil, may I trouble you to sit beside Miss Parkinson, please?" Tom Riddle asked pleasantly, he gave her a wink.

"It's ok, Jessica, he and I can talk about it later," _or never_, "it's more important for us to listen in class anyways," Hermione gave him a quick glare, but his charismatic smile was unwavering.

"You can sit here, Tom." Hermione wanted to vomit from the sweetness of Emilia's voice. Tom Riddle simply ignore her.

"I...I..." Jessica stuttered, she looked between Emilia and Tom Riddle, then at Hermione. It was clear that the girl was utterly bewildered.

"For me?" Tom Riddle tried again. That did it, Jessica moved her stuff wordlessly and sat beside Emilia, whose shoulders sagged from disappointment.

Tom Riddle smiled in the girls' direction again, then he sat down beside Hermione, who had buried her face in her book. He didn't need to say anything to showcase his victory, just the smugness on his face was enough to torture Hermione for the entire class.

* * *

Rage, Emilia knew she couldn't be serious about wanting Tom's attention. It had been a pretension to make the other believe that she had submitted to him for goodness sake! Getting Tom's attention could only mean danger; yet, something burned inside her when she saw Tom smiling at Pauline in class.

* * *

Hermione didn't try to stop Tom Riddle from sitting beside her in the other classes. It was pointless and she'd rather not waste her brain cell on something that only seemed to amuse him anyways. Curiously, the future Dark Lord didn't try to get more information from her, any conversation they had was strictly subject related. He reverted back to being gentle and friendly like he was before they went to the Forbidden Forest, but Hermione was never fooled by his nice gestures. Not even for a second.

After the last class ended, Hermione dragged herself to the dorm. In less than a minute after she entered, Emilia and her gang stormed into the dorm. Their eyes were trained on her face; the friend posture they had taken on yesterday was completely gone. In fact, they looked downright hostile.

Bleakly, Hermione wondered if all snakes had tendencies to switch personality abruptly. She rose an eyebrow at the girls.

"We've tried to ask you nicely, but you wouldn't listen." Emilia began angrily, she was half glaring at Hermione.

"What do you want now?" Hermione didn't need a brain to tell that the girls came on her with bad intentions, so she wasn't going to keep up the façade of politeness either. Part of her wondered if these girls ever get tired from the drama in their lives.

Emilia stomped toward her until Hermione was towering over the other girl.

"I want you to stay away from Tom," she finished flatly.

"I don't want him, ok?" Hermione snapped, she was beyond annoyed with the girls now. To be honest, Hermione wanted to smack the pug face for being so stupid.

"Lies." Emilia hissed harshly. Her face turned sour as she practically screeched the next sentence, "then who was it that insisted _she_ sit beside Tom today?"

"Excuse me, I believe it was the other way around," this conversation was becoming more infuriating by the second. Hermione had never wanted to be anywhere near the future Dark Lord who would murder her friends, and now _she_'s being accused of acting like one of those stupid girls who drool over the hypocrite?

Something akin to distaste was gleaming in Emilia's eyes. "He is too good for you. You should to learn your own place."

"If that's all you have to say, then good night." Hermione spoke icily, she vaguely noted that the way she said it was slightly reminiscent of Tom Riddle.

"You...you." Emilia was truly red in the face now, the girls behind her traded looks with each other, but made no attempt to back their leader.

"Good night." Hermione interrupted, emphasizing both words. Without waiting for a response, she stood up to go to the washroom.

Hermione had to put a lot of effort into her swagger. She could feel many pairs of eyes following her but it only made her more spiteful toward this whole situation. Merlin, what a wonderful life she's having here, a cherry on top of a fantastic sundae. Now she had to deal with both the future Dark Lord _and _daft dimbos who would probably try to strangle her in her sleep.

Hermione figured that Tom Riddle probably staged it just to seclude her from her dorm; and he succeeded, much to her annoyance.

**Author's Note**: Before you start accusing me of giving Hermione the short end of the stick... she might get her chance later on, who knows, Tom is not perfect after all, and he already slipped once before, didn't he? :P

*Hint: Tom isn't the only one who knows how to disguise himself as the nice guy. ;)


	12. Breakfast

Hi, guys, sorry about the late update! I just started my work again after taking a long break. The excuse was quite ridiculous to be honest, I had a bad dream of getting fired and I went running back to the job that I get bored out of my mind with... But I certainly don't regret it because my coworkers are so cool. :D

Angelique Levine: Thank you so much for the review! :D

* * *

**Breakfast**

The next morning, Hermione woke up to absolute silence. It was hard to tell the time of the day in Slytherin dungeon the only light source had always been the silver lamps that hung from the ceiling.

Hermione groaned when she noted the time. The first class was about to start in twenty minutes and nobody woke her up- scratch that, Hermione wouldn't put it past Emilia to cast a sleeping charm on her just so she'd miss breakfast and classes.

Last night she had bade the girls good night to stop them from talking. It was a temporary solution but it was the best Hermione could come up with at that moment. From now on, things will likely turn into a real mess since the girls were officially her enemies.

_Great, now I have to worry about being smothered in my sleep by baby Death Eaters if the Dark Lord doesn't kill me himself first._ Hermione rolled her eyes. She had only intended to stay in the washroom long enough for the girls to be gone. When they persisted, Hermione took a shower. The hot water made her drowsy and she took a nap, but it had turned into a long sleep.

On the bright side, Hermione felt extra refreshed though she was also a bit groggy. She had slept too long, but it gave her dazed brain cells a chance to recover from the attack of Tom Riddle's mind games.

Her stomach rumbled. If she got to Great Hall fast enough, she might get some leftovers from the breakfast. Hermione jammed the toothbrush in her mouth while her hands tried to work the comb through her hair frantically; yet, the harder she pulled, the more her hair seemed to frizz up and knot together. Merlin! If she knew it would turn out to be such a nightmare she would have taken the trouble of magically drying her hair before taking a nap.

When Hermione arrived at the Great Hall, only a handful of students were eating. Her eyes swept over the Slytherin table automatically, she was glad to find both Tom Riddle and the girls absent. She treaded over to the table almost hopefully, though Hermione expected this, but she was still disappointed to find that the breakfast has been magically cleared with the exception of the food in students' plates.

Hermione fell onto the bench with a defeated sign, her stomach growled pathetically again. She wondered if the future Dark Lord was planning to use starvation as a mean to break her. Absently, Hermione began to count in her head the number of times Tom Riddle had caused her to miss a meal. There was the time in Forbidden Forest... well, yesterday and this morning was technically not his fault... no, her mind denied vehemently, it was his fault.

As Hermione fumed about Tom Riddle and his stupid tactics, an arm reached over and placed a plate of croissant before her. The croissants were tantalizing, its aroma rose to her nose and made her mouth water. It took all Hermione' self control to refrain from simply devouring it with no regard for the consequence.

Giving an exasperated sign, Hermione turned around. Somehow, she wasn't surprised to find Tom Riddle standing behind her, the bastard always had a way of approaching others soundlessly.

"Morning, Pauline." There it was, the faked cheerfulness. Tom Riddle sat beside Hermione as if he was her friend.

"What a horrible pleasure to see you." Hermione muttered under her breath, somehow that didn't ruin Tom Riddle's good mood.

"Be nice now, Pauline." Again, that patronising tone.

"What do you want?" Hermione was feeling rather irritable today. The morning had been horrible so far, and it didn't look like it was getting any better soon. Word game with a Dark Lord who enjoyed waving a plateful of delicious food before a starving person which happen to be herself didn't really top the list as Hermione's fun activity.

"How about you start calling me by my first name?" ok, Tom Riddle's smug face was really not helping her to calm down.

"How about you get out of my line of sight?" Hermione hissed.

"As you wish," Tom Riddle picked up the plate nonchalantly.

Hermione gave the plate another miserable glance when he's not looking and she mentally bid the croissants good bye while rubbing her tummy. Just as Tom Riddle turned to go, her stomach longed him to stay...literally and noisily.

Tom Riddle looked like cat got the cream. He couldn't have been more smug when he sat down beside Hermione and waved the plate in front of her eyes like a child with his new toy.

"Are you sure?" Hermione's eyes involuntarily followed the food, but she shook her head stubbornly.

"You just never learn to back off, do you." She snapped irritably.

"Would you blame me for wanting to obtain what I desire?" It certainly sounded like an innocent claim. Hermione's eyes wondered from the food to his dark eyes cautiously, she had to remind herself that she's dealing with the future Dark Lord who was anything but innocent.

"So you want me to call you by your first name. "Hermione emphasized slowly.

"And for you to eat your breakfast. Try it, you may not find it so bad after all." He urged.

Hermione hesitated for a moment. Her mind was stuck on the two words he had said. "Try it." Try what? Try saying his name, or try the croissants? Did he add something to the food? Her stomach urged her to just say the cursed word and get over it, but she found the thought of obeying the Dark Lord to be offending and outrageous. It's not as if she's one of his pet Death Eaters.

"Why would I want to eat from someone who just tried to murder me from two days ago?" The aroma of the croissants was making her mouth water. Tom Riddle lowered the plate for a second, his face perfectly innocent.

"I was trying to see who you are, you don't really expect the Head Boy to kill a student, do you?" What a preposterous lie.

"And did you figure out who I am?" Hermione challenged even though she knew she should refrain from talking to the future Dark Lord. It would only allow him to pick up more information from her. Not that she could really stop him after their deal, and being famished must have made her more daring than usual.

"A hungry girl who is too stubborn for her own good." He answered with the same annoying light tone.

"And you are a persistent hypocrite who uses the title 'Head Boy' to harass girls!" Hermione couldn't help but raise her voice, _who does he think he is to use that parental tone with her?_

"Oh, so you desire to be harassed by me," Tom Riddle purred, "would you like me to grant you that wish?"

His face inched closer to her, a dangerous glint in his dark eyes, "After all, it is my duty as the Head Boy to make sure that students... enjoy their experience at Hogwarts."

"..." Hermione spluttered, she stared at him, shocked.

Tom Riddle looked at her expression for a second, then he fell back into his chair laughing.

"Good day, Mr Riddle." Hermione stood up, her eyes wandered to the food Tom Riddle was carrying for one last time before walking toward the kitchen briskly.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Hint, hint, to figure out what Tom is trying to do, think about the psychological impact of calling someone by another name. :)


	13. Deadlock

Hi guys, here's the new chapter! Once again, I want to thank you all for your support! :D

Hellcat-sakura: Thanks for the review! Your speculation is correct! (So smart! :D) I remember reading some study saying if you can get someone to call you by a more familiar name, they tend to think more about you and unconsciously start trusting you.

_Note to all readers: I do not guarantee it would work so do not curse me if you try this method on an opposite sex. . _

Ashlyn Malfoy: Thank you so much for the review! (It made my day! :D) As for the other Slytherins, I'm hoping to portray some of them as being two-faced. I'm not saying that being two-faced is a bad thing, I see it as a way of survival. It gives the characters advantage sometimes while other times it make them victims of their hypocrisy.

Angelique Levine: Thank you for the review. :) I'm glad that you enjoy the story.

mxn1fan: Thank you! (Your review had me real excited there!) You remind me of when I'm reading Tomione fanfiction. :D I literally go crazy and read them nonstop as well!

Cheliz: Thank you for the reviews. :) Yup, it's from that movie. I haven't personally watched it but I might do so in the summer. The name "Pauline Fossil" was suggested by Monica, who made the Youtube video that inspired me to start this story.

* * *

**Deadlock**

Hermione should have known. Tom Riddle always made sure that his plans were perfect.

The kitchen looked worse than a war zone. Pots and spoons were scattered around, broken pieces of plates littered the floor. The elves were busy running around trying to repair the kitchen; occasionally, a crash could be heard from the storage room accompanied by a yelp.

A voice drawled lazily behind her. "I'm giving you one more chance."

Hermione whirled around to find Tom Riddle leaning against the door frame coolly. The plate of croissants was levitating beside him.

His hands were in his pocket but it didn't make Hermione feel any safer. There were no other students or Hogwarts' staffs in proximity. Since the house elves were close enough if she needed help, she may not be physically harmed, but who could guarantee that the future Dark Lord wouldn't try something else? He is, _Tom Riddle_, after all, The Slytherin was an expert at slipping out of different situations; but Hermione certainly wasn't going to amuse him with her fear if she could help it.

"You did this." She hissed venomously.

Tom Riddle shrugged, his eyes looked pass her and swept over the kitchen nonchalantly.

"How inconvenient, perhaps we should ensure that it would not happen again in the future." The underlying threat was prominent. Though his words sounded like they came from a concerned Head Boy, his tone suggested otherwise.

"How could you? The house elves have as much right as you and I do-"

"Don't compare them to me," Tom Riddle interrupted her lazily, "and this is their job after all."

Hermione could feel her cheeks heating up from the rage that was burning steadily inside her. Before she could open her mouth, there was a gentle tug to her sleeve and a small, squeaky voice came from her side.

"Miss, please step outside. The glass shards are dangerous. They can cut you." Hermione looked down to find a tiny female elf.

Her bony body appeared particularly frail as she trembled; large green eyes peered into Hermione's face beseechingly for a brief moment, then they flickered away as if the poor elf was frightened that she might be scolded for making eye contact with a witch.

Hermione felt her heart struck with guilt. It seemed that ever since she arrived at this time period, all she achieved was creating more problem for herself and wrecking havoc for everyone except for the Dark Lord himself.

Though Hermione was not entirely sorry about polluting the Slytherin girls with her presence, as suggested by their revulsion; however, she did feel horrible that her behavior had brought up more work for the house elves. They were innocent, their lives were hard enough without the extra trouble because of her.

* * *

It had been almost too easy to imperio a few Gryffindor idiots into destroying the kitchen. As far as Tom was concerned, they were all currently standing in Dippet's office after he had gallantly "caught" them during the middle of the act and turned them in.

It was certainly satisfying to deduct a few house points from the house of conceited idiots along the way. Of course, Dumbledore wasn't pleased, but it was hardly possible to please the old fool as long as he's the one doing it.

Tom had made sure to alter the boys' memories so they would play out their roles perfectly. Dumbledore wouldn't be able to do a thing about it, not when the rest of the staffs were swooning over the polite, humble Head Boy who once caught the Slytherin Heir and saved the school.

Tom Riddle watched the short interaction between the girl and the creature dispassionately. Instead of asking for food, Pauline apologized. Then she walked out of the kitchen. The girl made a special effort to avoid touching him — she was pressing her body against the other side of the door as she passed him.

Tom wondered if the breakfast idea had been a silly one. Pauline didn't show up for last night's dinner. If Parkinson hadn't been grouching about Pauline at breakfast loudly, he would have thought the girl had ran into some kind of trouble.

Though Pauline continued to interest him, it was also frustrating. Unlike the other students, she did not seem to fear him. Surely the girl was scared when threatened with death, but there had been a determination about her that he could not fathom. It was almost as if the girl was somewhat suicidal.

Just as Tom contemplated his next move, Pauline paused a small distance from him. She half turned to face him.

"Aren't you coming? The first class is about to start." The words came out stiffly. Her lips was pressed into a tight line. It was clear in her eyes that she was not merely inviting him to walk along with her.

Tom suppressed a small smirk and followed, the plate of croissant levitated behind him.

As he expected, Pauline looked around quickly and walked to a hallway with low traffic. Once she confirmed no other students could hear them, she turned to him, her brown eyes meeting his unflinchingly.

"Let's cut the rubbish, Mr. Riddle," he frowned at the way his filthy muggle father's last name was spit out at him, "You don't do things for simple reasons like that, so what is it that you really what?"

"You know what I want." He answered smoothly.

Pauline leaned against the wall. A torrent of emotions flooded her face, guilt, confusion, anger... Tom observed each with scorn. For a second, Tom wondered why would Pauline feel guilty for something he had done, but he dismissed the thought almost immediately.

He had always failed to decipher other's motivation when they allow themselves to be clouded by pathetic sentiments; yet, it had only shown him others' vulnerabilities so Tom wasn't complaining.

Two days ago, Pauline had been adamant about ignoring him. Yet when he got sick of trying to please the girl, she talked to him out of her own will. Tom couldn't quite understand the girl's action, but he did hear a few things over the years about girls having more compassion.

Compassion, a fickle thing indeed. Children were naturally cruel. Tom had learned it the hard way at the dingy orphanage he had refused to call home. When he was brought to Hogwarts and sorted into Slytherin, Tom had perfected his skills in telling genuine emotions apart from faked one, not to mention Legilimency helped as well. The only emotion he had came to trust and rely on had been fear.

As long as the Slytherins feared him, they wouldn't dare to oppose him. Yet, Pauline seemed to challenge him every now and then. Tom figured he had to switch tactic.

It had taken him a long time to decide that he would encourage the girl to call him by his common muggle name. It was a distasteful but Tom figured he could use it to his advantage. He decided he was going to test out his theory about emotions. Initially, he had planned to treat Pauline like he did with Hogwarts' staffs, but it did not help him to gain her trust. Not to mention it was hard to obtain answers within the limit of keeping his manners.

The girl had a strong spirit, which made it all the more fun to break. Tom found her to be too compassionate in most situations to the point that it was getting on his nerves. He decided that if he could not break her by force, he would break her with the weakness she had allowed herself to possess — pathetic emotions.

**Author's Note**: So here's some of Tom's internal dialogues, I figured if I don't do something about him soon, his actions onward might be a little confusing. So voila! :) Hope you enjoyed this chapter and tell me what you think! I'll trying out a new dessert recipe and I'm sending virtual versions of them out to you for being so awesome! :D


	14. First to Cave In

Hi, guys, thank you so, so much for your support! :)

mxn1fan: Thank you so much! You review always make me hyper! :D

chakriya: Yup, new chapter coming up. :) Thank you for the review!

Zeehana: Thanks for the review, I'm happy that you enjoy the story. :)

Diane Potter: Haha, thank you so much! I'm glad that you like it. :D

Avior Schedar: Thank you for the review! :D

Samara Sweet: Thank you so much! :D You guys really keep me going!

Here's a link to Deadly Secret by my friend, Pani Cavojska. I'm so happy that Corrupted by Light has inspired people to write their own stories about this ship! :D *bouncing in excitement*

s/9101737/1/Suicide-Love

Amazing story by InkFalls, also inspired by Corrupted by Light. If you love Tomione, definitely go read this story! :D

s/9151400/1/Fracture

(For some reason, I can't seem to post direct link on this site. The full links are on my profile.)

* * *

**First to Cave In**

Tom Riddle did not speak. He seemed to be lost in his own thought.

Feeling awkward due to the silence, Hermione cleared her throat.

"I don't understand, why do you insist on getting others to call you by your first name?" She paused, then added sarcastically, "don't tell me... is Mr. Head Boy desperate for a friend?"

"Not others, just you." Hermione blanched at the response, "what are you afraid of, Pauline? If calling me by my first name changes nothing between us, then why are you so reluctant?" His words came out soft and fast. If Hermione had not been so determined to go against every word uttered by the despicable person before her, she might have been convinced- but she was not, she had been well prepared to stand against him till the very end.

Tom Riddle got closer to her until his tall frame loomed over her. Hermione thought she saw something flitted across his face for half a second, could it be... confusion?

"Go on," he muttered silkily, "enlighten me."

The chilliness emanating from the wall was sinking into her back. Hermione squirmed uncomfortably. She did her best to stand straight against the future Dark Lord.

"Oh, I don't know, it's just the fact that you seem so persistent on achieving this goal? Why would the great _Slytherin _Head Boy do anything that does not benefit him? I wonder."

"You are in Slytherin too, Pauline." He reminded her quietly. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Me? I'm not cunning enough to go against the great serpent himself." Sarcasm was dripping off her tone. The young Dark Lord's face turned thoughtful.

"Then what makes you fight if you knew you can't win? Wouldn't it all be easier to just give up?" He asked in a low voice. For a second, he looked lost and confused, as if he was trying to decipher the motivation of another species.

"No-" she hissed venomously. To be tempted by the thought was one thing, but to hear the devil himself utter the seduction only made her more rebellious.

"Do as I say, you know I'll just find another way to get you to submit, Pauline." Tom Riddle crossed his arms over his chest, a predator like interest was glinting in his dark eyes. Hermione had to refrain from flinching.

Tom Riddle looked into her eyes unblinkingly for a moment, then his stance relaxed. He stepped back from her a bit, and sighed like an exasperated adult dealing with a stubborn child.

"What should I do with you, Pauline?"

Hermione bit her tongue. He had switch to the patronising manner so expertly it made her wonder if the last few minutes had been her hallucination.

Hermione wondered if Tom Riddle only acted like this because he thought it would be easier to have his way with her. Well, his plan certainly wasn't working; because she wanted to punch him in the throat considering their proximity.

But Riddle was not Malfoy. For all she knew, punching Tom Riddle physically might just be the last thing she did. Hermione closed her eyes and took a controlled breath. She would not lose her temper, she would not-

"You want to know my intention," Hermione's eyes snapped open at the sudden resignation in his voice, "I thought since I call you by your first name, you should too... It's only fair." Hermione looked at him in disbelief. Sure, as if she's really stupid enough to believe that.

"Pardon me, but you could have thought up a better excuse than wanting thing to be _fair_. Let's try to not insult both of our intelligence here." She finished scornfully. Ridiculous, Tom Riddle and _fair_, how far can you stray from that?

"Are you suggesting that I'm lying?" Hermione could see herself reflected in his dark eyes. It made her angry that she looked like a trapped prey. No, she's a proud Gryffindor, and she wasn't going to allow herself to be intimidated.

"Aren't you? You seem happy enough to lie to the rest of the school."

"But I haven't lie to you ever since we met, have I?"

"That's the biggest lie you've told so far, and make that a ridiculous one. Honestly-"

"I haven't," Tom Riddle emphasized, dark eyes almost hypnotic as he pressed on, "I may have withheld information, but tell me, Pauline, give me an instance when I have lied to you."

Hermione considered his words for a brief moment. So far, the interaction between them had always been one-sided: the future Dark Lord had always been getting the upper hand and forcing more information out of her. If he hadn't really said anything about himself, could there be any space for lies?

Hermione didn't want to hear any more of it, this whole argument was turning into something unbecoming... almost like a lover's quarrel. The thought thoroughly disgusted her.

Not to mention, the next class would start if she didn't get out of here soon. Somehow, Hermione had a mental image of Tom carrying a plate of croissant around for the rest of the day- She knew he might do it, if it's just for the sake of annoying her. She eyed the food again, feeling empty and exhausted.

"How do I know that the food is not poisoned or laced with potion?" she asked coldly.

"You'll have to find out yourself." The look he gave her made Hermione feel like someone with excessive paranoia.

She pressed her lips together firmly and crossed her arms.

"That is very convincing." Hermione was rather happy with the sarcastic effect, even though she sounded positively like a snake. Hermione frowned, she scrutinized Tom Riddle for hidden intention while the other was on the verge of looking bored.

"You are not going to give up, are you?" This prolonged confrontation was really disturbing Hermione. It didn't look like the other is going to leave her alone unless she caved in. Her mind frantically went over all the possible ramifications of eating food given out by none other than the infamous Dark Lord.

"It's an English word, try it." The way he said it made her feel like a bumbling idiot.

She kept glaring at him. Tom Riddle lost his look of nonchalance and was staring back at her intently now. Hermione didn't need to guess to assume that he must be coming up with other devious plans now. She always hated battles that drag on forever. If Tom Riddle didn't get his way this time, what's going to happen to her next?

Hermione shuddered at the thought of her books and dorm in the same disarray as the kitchen—no, it had to be something worse, she had to correct herself that she's trying to maneuver around the future Dark Lord who's just as violent as cunning... _but then again, what could be so bad about calling him "Tom"?_ The other part of herself countered. Her stomach growled again, as if it was desperately trying to agree.

Hermione couldn't seem to see any harm in calling the future Dark Lord a different name, but if he went to such a measure to ensure that, there must be a catch... Hermione huffed in annoyance, then she noticed that Tom Riddle had picked up a croissant, and he was taking a bite out of it.

_So it's not poisoned,_ her mind reasoned, _but then again, who can guarantee that the other croissants are not poisoned as well? That could be the only one he didn't poison to trick her. Also, he could have an antidotes hidden somewhere...Oh, just eat the blasted food already._

The hunger was not helping Hermione think. She was sick and tired of this. If Tom Riddle didn't kill her in the Fobidden Forest, there was no point for him to kill her now, especially not while in Hogwarts where he could be easily caught. Her panic grew as Tom Riddle finished the first croissant and reached for another one.

"...Tom" Hermione grounded out grudgingly. Tom Riddle's fingers paused in midair. He smiled, it was a genuine one.

Suddenly, she was overwhelmed by a feeling of utter humiliation, as if she was his pet and he had just taught her a new trick.

_Never back down, because the next thing you know, your enemy will have you cornered like an animal to be slaughtered. _A quote from a muggle book that Hermione read long time ago echoed in her mind.

She fished for a croissant from the plate swiftly, trying to avoid getting too close to him if she could. For the entire time, she glowered at Tom Riddle, but the latter just grinned at her.

**Author's Note****:** That concludes the breakfast plot. I know you are probably thinking that I dragged it on forever. I'm sorry but I had to establish the tensions in their relationship, and I can't always use life and death situations like their date in Forbidden Fore-... *dodges a flying saucer from an angry Hermione due to the mention of "date"* ...Anyways, I meant to say I wanted to portray how much Hermione distrusts Tom, to the point of literally analyzing everything he does. So... tell me what you think? :)


	15. Uncharacteristic

I think I'm half typing this with my nose. We had so many customers today so it was pretty intense. But you guys are my priority, and here's the new chapter! :)

*Note: Happy belated Easter and April Fool's Day! For future reference, if I ever post a chapter on April Fool's Day, it will likely be my English essay on the most boring topic I could find. (Or it might be something I wrote in elementary school. :D) Just giving a warning, but those who just skipped over this wouldn't know. :P

Pani Cavojska: Thank you for the review! :)

mxn1fan: Thank you! I didn't know how to describe "Tom", so I thought I'd let Tom Riddle call it a word to simplify the complication. Anyways, I'm really glad that you enjoy the chapter! :)

morbid17: Thank you so much! I'm happy that I didn't ruin your first impression of this pairing! :)

* * *

**Uncharacteristic**

The hallways of Hogwarts were filled with students as they rushed to class.

Hermione walked beside Tom Riddle sullenly. She was still getting used to calling the future Dark Lord by name. It's just... _Tom_ was such an ordinary name, and saying it to the future Dark Lord's face as if they were equals was just odd.

Hermione didn't know whether she should feel relieved or worried that Tom Riddle had not tried to get more information from her. For all she knew, he could be planning something that could result in greater loss on her behalf.

It was also unnerving that he had been acting like a gentleman and escorting her everywhere.

For the past few days, Tom Riddle had appeared to be quite pleased even though there was hardly enough conversation between them for it to be a healthy relatio- no, _no_, she did _not_ just use that blasted word. If there's anything between them that could be called a re- relationship... if anything, it would be called she wanted-to-strangle-him-in-his-sleep.

Nothing about Lord Voldemort was healthy.

Merlin, the guy was deathly pale even in his human form.

Hermione walked into the class, hugging her beloved books to her chest.

It was almost becoming a routine now: Hermione would go into class or return to dorm only to see Emilia glaring at her and gossiping loudly about the most trivial matters about her. Her little gang would avoid her eyes altogether. Sometimes, Hermione wondered if their enthusiasm about what Emilia had to say had been faked... but it was probably just due to her own desire to gain allies.

What really mattered was: none of the girls had tried to physically attack her... yet.

Some of the other snakes looked at her fearfully, while the rest either appeared calculating or bored — again, an act that the snakes seemed to never get tired of ever since someone started a rumor about her poisoning Tom Riddle with love potion... as if that's even possible.

The Gryffindors, clueless as usual, did not seem to notice anything. Their loud chatter grated against Hermione's eardrum in the most irritating manner possible.

There was so much going on that it was giving Hermione an headache. She sighed as she sat down beside the Slytherin Heir in Defense Against Dark Arts.

"Tough day?" Tom Riddle glanced up from his books.

"Thanks to you." Hermione hunched over the table, feeling utterly defeated.

She was bitter. Just as she thought she'd avoid girl drama, the bastard beside her made her fall right into one, and make it one that would definitely triumph over the drama in any muggle shows watched by her Mum.

Now she had to deal with the future Dark Lord _and_ fanatic girls who were ready to slaughter her at Tom Riddle's command on a daily basis. Life is so great.

"Care to explain?" He raise a brow.

"Drop it, 'k?" she murmured.

"Drop what?" Hermione's irritation grew. The other was obviously playing with her, so she ignored him.

Tom Riddle didn't attempt to start another conversation after that, but Hermione still couldn't concentrate on the lecture.

The earlier talk was making her mad. She could feel her body temperature rising, as if the anger was making her blood boil.

Since the former DADA Professor came as a guest lecturer after her retirement last year, Hermione was glad that the material wouldn't be on the exam.

She could only vaguely remember Professor Merrythought mentioning something about the Dementors. It was interesting to note that the Professor herself looked a little bit like the creature she was teaching... excuse her if the professor ever knew what she was thinking.

Undeniably, Professor Merrythought was a frail little lady. Her bony hand shook and she could only hold her wand loosely— her fingers looked dry and mummified, as if they were too stiff to be mobile. Hermione wondered if the woman would rattle if someone shook her-

Hermione jabbed her hand with a quill pen to stop herself from thinking further. It seemed that lately, her mind had been going off in random tangents of sheer childishness uncontrollably.

Beside her, Tom glanced at the blotch of ink on her hand. Hermione tried to ignore his existence by focusing on the lecturer's words.

"... The best way to drive off a Dementor is to summon a Patronus using the Patronus Charm. It works like a shield. The Dementor would just feed off the Patronus instead of the witch or wizard. To conjure one, you need to think of a happy memory. The incantation is Expecto Patronum. Now everyone try it."

The class grew noisy as students began to attempt the Patronus Charm clumsily. Though thankfully, there was no explosion, but the lack of silver figures in the room confirmed that no one had succeeded yet.

Hermione looked at Tom Riddle, who was reading another book that he had placed on top of his textbook intently.

"Why aren't you attempting it?" He didn't look up from the book, his voice came out as a lazy drawl.

"Fresh coming from someone who's not even trying it herself." Hermione was taken aback by his snide tone.

So far, Tom Riddle had always acted overfriendly to her in the presence of others. Without thinking, Hermione picked up her wand and recited the incantation.

"Expecto Patronum."

The familiar silver otter sprang from her wand. It skipped around the classroom and disappeared in silver wisps.

A hush fell over the class as students marveled at the sight of the Patronus.

Tom Riddle looked up from his book as well, his eyes unreadable. Hermione wanted to slap her hand. It had been a completely unnecessary act. She had wanted Tom Riddle to underestimate her so she could kill him when he least suspected it. Yet, she just couldn't stop her stupid self from flaunting her knowledge.

There was a surprised gasp from the other side of the room. Professor Merrythought came over to Hermione swiftly, her intelligent eyes filled with excitement.

"Very good, well done... Miss Fossil, isn't it? It's a shame that I never got the pleasure to be your professor. Albus spoke greatly of you," Professor Merrythought's face was lit up with a smile when she spoke of Dumbledore, "would you care to help the other students out?"

Hermione felt something heavy in her chest at the mention of Dumbledore. She nodded stiffly. The professor gave her another gracious smile of astonishing sweetness and went away to help the other students.

Before Hermione could consider Dumbledore's opinion of her further, several Slytherins surrounded her. Their excited chatter soon distracted her from the words of the guest speaker. And so, she helped her Housemates with equal enthusiasm.

Soon, more silver balls and figures sprang up accompanied by gasps and laughter. Hermione felt a tug at the sleeve of her robe.

She was pleasantly surprised to find Jessica, who smiled at her shyly, members of Emilia's gang stood behind her. With a few tips and encouragement from Hermione, most of Emilia's gang were able to conjure up a incorporeal Patronus. Some even managed to get the corporeal ones. Unfortunately, Jessica still couldn't do it, but she was trying very hard on her own after thanking Hermione for her help.

Hermione couldn't help but smile as silver balls and figures flew around the room. Looking around, she found Emilia sitting in her desk sulkily, playing with her wand. Hermione approached the hostile girl, the other glared at the door defiantly.

"Do you need any help?" Hermione tried to be nice.

Emilia didn't glance at Hermione. She made no indication of having heard anything. She was concentrated on some small details of her wand.

Hermione waited for a few more moments and still received no response. It seemed that the girl before her was determined to ignore Hermione.

In the end, Hermione gave up. She gave a quiet sigh as she turned away.

* * *

Emilia continued to fiddle with the wooden stick in her hand.

Her eyes flickered to Pauline's back and then to Tom, who was reading his book. Her fingers tightened around her wand.

What was Tom doing? Under Tom's influence, Pauline should have been a broken mess by now due to her lack of respect, but the they seemed to have grew closer.

At first Emilia pitied Pauline. Now she could only say that the girl irritated her. Pauline was too much of _Gryffindork_ to be sorted into Slytherin. She was the epitome of what would repulse Tom, yet Tom invested his time in her.

Though Emilia didn't wish for severe misfortune to befall Hermione, but she suppose a little bad news wouldn't hurt.

For now, she'll wait. Maybe something interesting will come out of Tom's unsettling interest in the new girl.

* * *

Having helped (or tried to help in Emilia's case) all the snakes in the room, Hermione's eyes swept across the other side of the room— the half of the class that was too proud to let her approach them.

There were a few silver figures and balls, but it was significantly less than the Slytherin side.

Professor Merrythought was a talented witch; however, she was not the best when it came to motivating students much younger than herself.

Bored, Hermione wandered back to her seat.

Tom Riddle was still reading his book. His wand hidden away. He didn't look like he had moved an inch since Hermione last talked to him.

"Tom?" Hermione hated the uncertainty in her tone, but the name still tasted foreign on her tongue, "do you have any happy thoughts?"

Hermione regretted asking immediately after the words slipped out. She really should have phrased the question better.

Tom looked up at her, his eyes cool and indifferent. "I don't need a pathetic glowing animal to protect me, I know something better."

Hermione felt annoyance stirring up at his condescending tone.

"Show me then." She challenged.

He bared his teeth for a barbaric grin. "You wouldn't want to know."

It was a statement laced with venom, and the certainty in it drained her will to defy his authority.

Hermione swallowed, her throat suddenly felt constricted. Before she could push him further, he stood up and walked out the door briskly.

**Author's Note**: *hint hint* Something established in this chapter might be a key point in some of the later chapters. :) I'm itching to write those now! (Only if I didn't have so many final exams coming up!) Well, tell me what you think? Thanks! :)


	16. Disguise

Ok, reminder. Hermione made a deal with Tom in the Forbidden Forest in Chapter 8 about giving him information. It's going to come into play in this chapter. :)

Pani Cavojska: Thank you! :D Here's the new chapter and I hope you enjoy it!

mxn1fan: Thank you so much! Your reviews never fail to make me smile! :D

* * *

**Disguise**

Hermione sat alone in the library. The sound of paper crinkling as she moved to turn a page was painfully loud in the large space filled with an eerie silence.

Usually this would be the environment that Hermione could only dream of; yet, she felt unsettled. What had changed?

Unable to focus on the book, Hermione peered out the giant glass window beside her. The sky was a sapphire blue that seemed to fade at the horizon.

She should be in bed sleeping.

Yet, she felt too alert to be lethargic.

Despite her studious attitude, Hermione was not one to get up this early in the morning to read. Oddly, she missed the Peeves and his nasty insults. At least it would have been something to break this awful hollowness in her chest.

She simply couldn't sleep last night. The few hours of sleep she got was filled with Harry teaching her how to summon a patronus. Not to mention there's was also the fact that she shared her dorm with a room full of girls who'd probably like to kill her if they had their ways.

Hermione turned another page, her eyes sailing pass the words but absorbing none. Truth to be told, her mind was on DADA class yesterday. Maybe because her head wasn't clear from the lack of sleep; maybe she's just imagining things; but she thought there was something in Tom Riddle's eyes during that class.

His eyes had remained hooded when he came to dinner that night. He had been uncharacteristically moody, but Hermione couldn't think of why. _Not that I care_, she told herself.

It was necessary for her to observe Tom Riddle as much as possible even though she hated it. She had to do all she could to increase the chance that she'd succeed at killing him.

But she couldn't even think straight. If someone had barged in demanding what she ate yesterday for breakfast, Hermione probably wouldn't be able to remember for at least a few seconds.

It was a strange sensation, the sleep was clouding her mind, yet she felt too tired to fall asleep...

"What are you thinking?" A voice rang beside her and a chair was pulled out.

"Thinking about you." Hermione slapped both of her hands over her mouth once the words came tumbling out of her mouth. She raised her head to look at Tom Riddle even though she feared what she might see there.

Tom Riddle simply raised an eyebrow as he sat down beside her.

Good, it appeared he had taken it as a joke. Part of Hermione wanted to ask when had he come in, but she decided that she would not talk, lest she say something stupid again.

"So what made you come here so early in the morning?' He began.

"The morning birds get the worms." Hermione was glad that he didn't press her for what she just said. For good measure, she looked down at her book and trained her face to look as if she was concentrating.

"The morning worms get devoured by birds," He murmured. She heard the soft thud as he placed a book beside her.

"What are you trying to say?" She looked at him deliberately. His sudden appearance had jolted her mind into alertness. She was ready to spring into action anytime.

"Nothing, just a saying I found interesting." Tom Riddle shrugged. Then he nudged the book into her sight.

It was _Secrets of the Darkest Art_. The title was self-explanatory. Hermione panicked a little inside. What's he planning now?

She looked at him questioningly. Her heart thumped hard against her chest, but she had to feign indifference.

"Look at this chapter, Pauline, it talks about Horcruxes. Do you happen to know what they are?" He was smiling at her easily, but Hermione could feel sweat pooling on the back of her neck.

Since the question was not directed at her in the form of gathering information, Hermione figured she could lie. She was not certain if it would violate the terms of her deal with him, but she had to try.

Hermione gulped when numerous consequences of violating a magical deal flashed in her mind.

But she had no other choice.

Gritting her teeth, Hermione shook her head slowly. She had to refrain from squeezing her eyes shut in fear of what would happen to her, should her act be considered a violation of a magical deal. She looked away from the future Dark Lord, her body stiff from the horrible anticipation.

Nothing happened. Beside her, Tom Riddle muttered quietly, seemingly to himself, but she could feel his predatory eyes on her.

"I'm surprised, I thought you knew everything." Her heard was still frantically beating. She felt a certain giddiness at her irrational fear. Of course nothing was going to happen. She had just been over-thinking everything.

The new found confidence made Hermione want to open her mouth for a retort, but then she suddenly realized with a start that he was trying to provoked her into talking, _and you fell for it in DADA_, her mind added snidely.

Tom Riddle stood up. Hermione glared at the book before her doggedly. She nearly jumped when she felt his hands rest on her shoulder.

They were heavy, like the weight of the world crushing down on her.

"Aren't you curious what Horcruxes are, Pauline? " His voice floated above her head. Goose flesh rose on Hermione's arms at her contact with Tom Riddle; yet, she didn't want to turn around. She didn't want to be sickened by his adoration of Dark magic.

"Perhaps, care to enlighten me?" It took all her might to keep her voice steady. Even then, Hermione could swear that she heard her voice tremble at the end.

"Oh, Professor Slughorn said that it's very dark stuff." She could almost hear a note of amusement in his voice.

It was clear that he was doing this to Hermione on purpose. _And he was enjoying it immensely_, her mind added. The annoyance that she's being played like a helpless prey was beginning to burn inside her.

Tom Riddle stopped talking. His finger squeezing her shoulder gently, as if he was trying to give her a massage. Each second ticking by felt like a year to Hermione. If possible, her heart was beating even more furiously than before, as if it was trying to make up for the oxygen she was being slowly depleted of.

The Head Boy only paused for a second, then he continued. "It's an object that a witch or wizard can insert their soul into, and that piece of soul will be kept alive even if the owner of the horcrux was killed."

"In other words, the witch or wizard can't die." Hermione finished quietly, despite having heard it before, horror and nausea was growing in the pit of her stomach.

"Clever girl." Tom Riddle was in front of her now. His dark eyes appraising as he regarded her.

"And you are telling me this because...?" Having somehow gained courage from the Dark Lord's praise, Hermione probed.

"Oh, just a piece of information I thought was neat." He sat back down in his chair again, his posture perfectly relaxed as if she was a friend he could trust.

They both read their books in silence for a while. Hermione couldn't focus on the words before her. She has been reading the last paragraph for the past few minutes now. The few pages she read before didn't seem to registering in her mind either.

Beside her, Tom Riddle turned another page. The periodic flutter of the paper seem to scramble her mind even further. His words kept reverberating in her head

_ "...very dark stuff..."_

_ "...piece of soul..."_

_ "...kept alive even if the owner of the horcrux is killed..."_

Hermione glanced at the figure beside her out of the corner of her eyes. Tom Riddle's eyes were glued to the book, his hungry eyes greedily drinking in any information the book might feed him.

Hermione turned in her seat to face him fully. She was scared. She didn't know if her reaction to horcrux was righ- not right, Hermione had to correct herself. A right reaction would be horrified, but what could pass for a normal Slytherin reaction?

Bracing herself, she cleared her throat. Slytherins would be curious in this case. Despite the dark nature of the subject, they would want to know. The thought repeated itself in her head like a mantra, boosting her courage.

"Tom Ri-" she bit her tongue, Tom Riddle cocked an eyebrow, "So Tom, tell me more about this horcrux business."

Amusement was glinting in Tom's dark eyes as he assessed her. He cocked his head to the side. Hermione noted that the corner of his lips was twitching suspiciously.

"I'm amazed, and I thought light wizards that can summon a patronus would never breach the topic of dark arts."

"And that so-called light wizard happen to be in Slytherin... Enough with the riddles, are you going to tell me or not?"

"Of course, my dear," Tom Riddle's eyes flickered to her shoulder briefly when she flinched as the endearing name.

He continued to explain. All the while his dark eyes were trained on Hermione, greedily taking in her reaction.

Hermione was surprised that Tom Riddle didn't try to hide his knowledge in the field. In fact, his explanation was much more specific than Dumbledore's. It came to her that he'd make a great professor if he wasn't such an evil git.

"...to split one's soul, one need to use the killing curse, which I'm sure you are familiar with." he gave her a meaningful look. Hermione knew she'd just look silly if she tried to deny it, so she nodded. Idly, she wondered if he did hear her the time she whispered it in Forbidden Forest.

"How many times can a person split his soul?" Hermione supported her chin on her palms, trying to appear to be interested and somewhat admiring.

"I never said that a person can split his soul more than once, did I?" Suspicion was lurking in his voice.

Hermione felt as if her chin was going to slip from her clammy palms. She could feel her hands turning cold as she thought of a way to get out of the situation.

She was suppose to fake ignorance, not to show off her knowledge. Hermione was glad when Tom Riddle dismissed it.

"It depends on the person." he frowned, obviously hating the fact that he didn't know the exact answer.

"But why did you launch a thorough research on this subject in particular?" Hermione knew the answer, but she had to pretend to be genuinely interested.

"Because I want to be immortal."

He was looking at her now. Hermione didn't know what to do, so she tried to laugh it off as a joke. The sound came out dry, only to be made worse by the silence in the library.

Tom Riddle stared at her for a moment longer before he broke into a smirk, as if he's happy that he just made her believe in a ridiculous lie, even though they both knew it was the truth.

The sky was lighter outside. There was actually an orange pink blush now. It's supposed to make Hermione feel warm, but she wasn't.

She moved a little further from him. Her teeth clattered from the knowledge of the danger of the man beside her.

Author's Notes: I thought I'd give them a little confrontation so they don't become too friendly. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. :)


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